Jockeys Craig Zackey, S’manga Khumalo and apprentice Girish Samo-Burthia are the riders to follow at the Highveld’s weekend fixture on Saturday 20 September when racing is at Turffontein on the Inside track.
All three in-form riders have two winning chances so the meeting will likely be dominated by the trio, to the tune of six victories on the eight-event card.
Zackey, as he did for most of last season, heads the National Jockeys’ standings after six weeks of the new 2025/26 campaign on 31 winners and he could add to that in Race 2 over 2600m aboard United Council for trainer Robbie Sage.
This daughter of The United States returns from a 15-week absence but she is the best-weighted runner in the race and did win her last start in a similar contest over 2400m.
Joe Soma-trained Gimmeachoice, another last-start scorer, wasn’t winning out of turn when romping to a 3.30-length victory in his first outing over 2000m last month with Zackey in the irons. It was the lightly raced five-year-old gelding’s first start with a tongue-tie fitted and all the ingredients for that winning recipe will likely be repeated in Race 4.
Mauritian apprentice Samo-Burthia shot to prominence when riding a Vaal treble, the first of his career, last month and the 4kg-claimer is good value for his weight allowance on Fabian Habib’s inmate King’s Express.
This hard-knocking son of Pomodoro had legitimate excuses for a disappointing last start over 2000m but the return to his preferred distance in Race 5 over 1800m will stand him the six-year-old gelding in good stead.
He is course and distance suited and will be running free with just 52kg on his back.
The young rider’s burgeoning reputation was enhanced by his exploits on Master Christmas 18 days ago when steering this Tony Peter-trained Master Of My Fate gelding to victory in a competitive 1400m handicap. A four-point penalty for that success is unlikely to prevent Peter’s charge from following up in his peak outing under Samo-Burthia in Race 7 over 1600m.
Khumalo’s three rides at the meeting – all for trainer Johan Janse van Vuuren – include debut winner Banyan in Race 1 over 1000m and this promising son of Flower Alley is open to any amount of improvement on his reappearance over the same course and distance of first-up success.
The same jockey-trainer combination will likely repeat the feat in Race 6 over 1200m with highly regarded Bjorn Ironside who won’t need to improve much on his encouraging comeback third over the same track and trip to get back to winning ways.
Clive Robinson
