Thursday’s Vaal Classic fixture on 18 December has the ingredients for a midweek jockey shootout, with Callan Murray, Gavin Lerena and Muzi Yeni locked, loaded, and armed with the firepower to dominate the nine-race card. Their book of rides is deep, their chances are layered across the card, and punters who play around the trio could be smiling all the way to the bank.
Yeni should land the first meaningful punch in Race 2, where the rapidly rising Nkwenkwezi goes for a fourth straight win. Clinton Binda has coaxed this Erupt filly from “needs time” to “near unstoppable”, and her last victory over the same 2000m trip screamed further improvement. Yeni will keep her handy, and if she reproduces anything close to her recent hat-trick, the rest will be running to fill the runners-up berth.
Race 3 hands Lerena a gilt-edged opportunity to strike with Master’s Lady, a filly who has tested punters’ patience but remains impossible to ignore. Three seconds from her last four starts highlight her consistency and frustration in equal measure, but Roy Magner has found a race that lacks the depth she’s been running into. Lerena’s aggressive timing could finally crack the code.
Lerena stays alive in Race 5, where the staying-type Euphrates looks poised to cash in. Tony Peter has been edging this Wings Of Desire gelding towards the right race, and the return to 2400m seems deliberate. He’s been threatening repeatedly over shorter trips so this is his chance to convert promise into payout.
Between those two lies Yeni’s most straightforward job of the day in Race 4, where Inspector James should break his maiden if racing fit after a 19-week rest. Johan Janse van Vuuren’s gelding was runner-up twice before the layoff and meets a field that won’t require big improvement to beat. If the money comes, expect Yeni to make no mistake.
But the meeting shifts gears when Murray steps forward in the back half of the card.
In Race 6, he climbs aboard Ethical, a filly with serious upward trajectory. Her winning handicap debut was slick, decisive, and full of authority — the kind of win that screams “still ahead of the handicapper”. Murray will suit her perfectly, and she’s the one punters may build late Pick 6 structures around.
Murray remains the value rider in Race 8, where Drumnadrochit finally catches a break in conditions. Outclassed in the Grade 3 Fillies Mile, she now drops in grade and stretches to 1700m — a combination that gives her every chance to rebound. The Mike and Mathew de Kock team have been turning the screws lately, and this filly has the profile of an each-way sleeper with bite.
And the De Kock–Murray partnership may close the show in Race 9 with Stokesy, who returns to 1500m for his first handicap assignment. Lightly raced, unexposed, and open to sharp improvement, he’s exactly the type the stable excels with — and Murray’s cool finishing style could make all the difference late on a tiring track.
Clive Robinson
