Champion Jockey Gavin Lerena is the rider to follow at Turffontein’s nine-race card on Sunday when he returns to the saddle after a well-deserved two-week break.
Absent since riding three winners, two thirds and two fourth-place finishes at 4Racing’s Headquarters on 2 August, Lerena has a strong book of rides at the Highveld’s weekend meeting on the Inside track.
The pick of Lerena’s eight rides is rapidly improving Tony Peter-trained The Ultimate King whose consecutive recent wins under the same rider completed a hat-trick of victories for the Vercingetorix gelding who has won three of his six starts and is unbeaten since having been gelded.
This lightly raced four-year-old defied the five-point penalty for his winning handicap debut over 1600m by cruising to a follow-up success over 2000m on the Standisde track four weeks ago, giving weight (3kg) and a 2.10-length beating to subsequent scorer Enflame.
Peter’s charge lines up in Race 6 over 2000m under an eight-point penalty but that is unlikely to halt the momentum of The Ultimate King who remains open to improvement.
Lightly raced What A Winter filly Francelien fits a similar profile so it could pay to follow the progress of Lucky Houdalakis’ inmate on her reappearance in Race 7 over 1200m. She has two wins and a second in three starts under Lerena with whom she is reunited on her return from 197-day absence.
Promising three-year-old filly Slender Silhouette is another of Lerena’s mounts whose progress it could pay to follow earlier on the card. This Sean Tarry-trained daughter of Vercingetorix showed enough in two starts on a trip to Cape Town to suggest that she could make a winning comeback in Race 1 over 1200m.
Imported Saragossa Cat won’t need to improve a great deal to open her account under Lerena in Race 2 over 1200m, the same course and distance over which she finished second on debut under Calvin Habib.
Johan Janse van Vuuren’s charge was backed first-up and was only collared late by Japanese Garden (runs in Race 8) and with any natural improvement, she should go one better with the champion rider taking over the reins.
Clive Robinson
