The eight-race Standside fixture at Turffontein on Sunday, 6 July is headlined by the Grade 3 Sea Cottage Stakes (Race 7) — the final leg of the Highveld Winter Series for three-year-olds, honouring the legendary Sea Cottage.
Sea Cottage famously survived a shooting in 1966 before dead-heating the Durban July a year later with the bullet still lodged in his hindquarter. He won 20 of his 24 starts for trainer Syd Laird, cementing his place as a South African racing icon.
Alec Laird, Syd’s son, saddles just one runner on Sunday, but it’s a big one. His star colt Fire Attack bids to land a win worthy of the family legacy. The Fire Away colt, last season’s Highveld Champion Two-Year-Old, has been in superb form this term — runner-up in the Gr2 Dingaans and Gr3 Got The Greenlight Stakes, then second again at Gr1 level in the TAB SA Classic over this same course and distance.
Fire Attack crowned his campaign with a Gr1 victory in the Premier’s Champions Challenge against older horses at weight-for-age over 2000m. He’s been off for 14 weeks but is well treated under the race conditions and, even with 60kg, rates well clear on official ratings. He should prove hard to beat despite conceding 3kg to his rivals.
His main dangers are Musical Score and Choisanaada, both in form and trying 1800m for the first time. Choisanaada is chasing a series clean sweep and the R500,000 bonus after winning the Winter Series legs over 1400m and 1600m, beating smart horses each time.
Elsewhere on the card, watch promising recent winners Shadowfax (Race 2) and Constellation (Race 4) for more clues.
Clive Robinson
