Turffontein hosts Africa’s richest race on Saturday 29 November, and the Highveld’s flagship afternoon promises a full-throttle spectacle: 20 runners for the Grade 1 Betway Summer Cup, an 11-race card stacked with six supporting features, two lucrative maidens, and enough betting action to keep punters glued to the screens.
The Summer Cup over 2000m includes the past two winners, a high-quality Irish import with stallion potential, and a pair of well-accomplished fairer sex representatives in what shapes as a deep and truly vintage renewal.
Defending champion Atticus Finch, a Master Of My Fate gelding from the Alec Laird stable, once again sets the benchmark after a polished two-run preparation that proves he is at the peak of his powers.
Blinkers have clearly unlocked more from him as he indicated when a fast-finishing second in the Grade 2 Joburg Spring Challenge over 1450m on his reappearance before producing a dominant career-best performance when winning the Grade 2 Charity Mile. He jumps from the same No 2 gate from which he won last year, under regular rider Calvin Habib and, even top weight, Atticus Finch has every chance of retaining his title.
Royal Victory, the 2023 champion, could emerge as his biggest danger as he is weighted to threaten the reigning champ more than he managed 12 months ago. The six-year-old Pathfork gelding boasts two Grade 1 victories over the course and distance and is 4kg better off for the three-length beating by Atticus Finch in the 2024 edition, when positioned in gate No 14. Coincidentally, he also jumps from the same stall, this time with blinkers refitted and Chad Little in the irons for visiting KwaZulu-Natal trainer Nathan Kotzen.
Royal Victory’s consistency, toughness and course affinity make him a major force in the race.
Beyond the principals, the Quartet puzzle deepens but those remaining positions will likely be fought out by well-fancied big-race favourite The Equator, a smart Irish-bred son of Galileo, another ideally prepped KZN raider in King Pelles, Eastern Cape visitor My Best Shot (provides inter-provincial intrigue) and progressive last-start Grade 3 winner The Ultimate King,
Earlier on the card, the Grade 2 Dingaans (Race 7) serves up one of the day’s most intriguing duels as last season’s Equus Champion Juvenile Colt Jan Van Goyen returns to renew rivalry with Tin Pan Alley.
Jan Van Goyen, from the Mike and Mathew de Kock yard, has not raced since capturing last season’s premier juvenile Grade 1 over 1600m from Tin Pan Alley who, by contrast, has thrived since being gelded after his two-year-old campaign, winning both starts this season with a level of authority that suggests he could be destined for bigger and better things.
The latter finished 3.70 lengths behind Jan Van Goyen in their two-year-old Grade 1 clash but with race fitness and maturity now on his side, Sean Tarry-trained Tin Pan Alley looks ideally placed to avenge that defeat.
The straight-course features add more texture to the day. In the Listed Carry On Alice Stakes (Race 4) over 1160m, Tarry’s Grade 1 SA Fillies Sprint heroine Mia Moo carries the obvious target on her back as she brings the class edge over sprint distances to the contest.
The Grade 3 Merchants (Race 5), also over 1160m, is a rematch of a recent 1000m Listed race in which African Pride, Charming Cheetah, Cosmic Star – the winner that day – and Quantum Theory finished on top of each other.
Their return bout promises to be much of the same, with any degree of improvement or even a better draw likely to separate them.
The Grade 3 Fillies Mile (Race 6) sees the return to action of Littlemissmillion after a 156-day layoff. Her early form marks her as a rising stakes-race talent, so her reappearance adds another layer of interest to an already rich feature-race card.
Clive Robinson
