The official start of Champions Season is still a month away but trainers are already starting to warm up their big guns. The Gr3 Byerley Turk and the Gr3 Umzimkhulu Stakes to be run at Hollywoodbets Greyville on Sunday are traditional warm-ups for three-year-olds and both races have attracted small but classy fields.
Justin Snaith fires the first salvos of the expected Champion Season raiders as he saddles Gr1 Cape Guineas winner Snow Pilot and Underworld line up in the Byerley Turk.
Snow Pilot is the highest rated runner in the race but given the conditions he has to give 6kg to all of his rivals who are bracketed on 54kg. However, although Snow Pilot has garnered a rating of 116 and giving weight to all his rivals, he still looks well in with all but Gimmeanotherchance. Mike de Kock appears to have picked the right race for his charge who is rated 111 who, on paper at least, looks well in.
The race should also give some indication as to where the Cape three-year-old form stands in relation to their Highveld counterparts. Snow Pilot was far from disgraced in the Gr1 L’Ormarins Kings Plate where he also found some significant market support in the face of rivals Charles Dickens and See It Again.
Gimmeanotherchance on the other hand has shown steady form behind the top Highveld sophomores, Main Defender, Sandringham Summit and Purple Pitcher without threatening either of the trio so this makes for an interesting contest.
Underworld gives Snaith a second string to his bow. He was a close-up second two older horses at his last two outings and from the best of the draw he could upset the two more fancied runners.
Red Bomber, Mid Winter Wind and Sovereign State are there to keep them honest.
Snaith could get his feature race campaign off to a winning start when he sends out Double Grand Slam in the Umzimkhulu Stakes. She gave notice of her ability when finishing third behind Princess Calla in the Majorca Stakes when stepped up to a mile for the first time and following up with a facile victory in the Vasco Prix du Cap over the Hollywoodbets Kenilworth 1400m where she came in for a ton of market support.
In the absence of a suspended Grant van Niekerk, Richard Fourie picks up the ride.
A big danger is Glen Kotzen’s filly Rascova. She finished ahead of Double Grand Slam in the Majorca Stakes where she had the worst of the draw and although soundly beaten next time out in the Vasco Pix du Cap she was giving her rival 2kg for a three-length beating.
This could turn into a tactical battle between Fourie and Craig Zackey.
