Speed is the currency that matters on Turffontein’s Standside track this Saturday when the three-year-olds line up in the Grade 3 TAB National Currency Sprint (Race 7) looking to cash in over a sharp 1100m.
Run in honour of National Currency – the Equus Champion Sprinter whose blistering pace earned two domestic Grade 1 wins and a brave second to Silent Witness in the 2003 Hong Kong Sprint – this is a race that demands raw speed and the nerve to use it.
The 2026 renewal has drawn a quality mix from the Highveld, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, but the one who makes immediate betting appeal is the KZN raider Wild Justice.
Trained by Gareth van Zyl and to be ridden by S’manga Khumalo, the son of Vercingetorix has won four of his five starts, improving with each outing. His latest win over 1200m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville was that of a colt going places. He pinged the gates, dictated throughout and beat subsequent winner Talk To The Master with something in hand.
Dropping to 1100m is no negative. If anything, it sharpens his greatest weapon, tactical speed. He’s three from three under Khumalo, and tellingly, he is Van Zyl’s only runner on the Turffontein card. This is no tourism exercise, it’s intent.
At the right price, Wild Justice is the bet!
The Non-Black Type Bidvest Bauhinia Stakes (Race 6) over 1000m looks tailor-made for Rifle Queen, and it would be a surprise if she doesn’t start a warm order. Trained by Tony Peter, the daughter of Buffalo Bill Cody was unbeaten in two juvenile starts and lost little in defeat when second after a five-month break in January.
She bounced back in style over 1160m on this track earlier this month, leading throughout against male opposition under Gavin Lerena. The six-point penalty is the assessor’s nod to quality, but her natural gate speed should offset it. Dropping to 1000m, she may be even more potent. If she jumps cleanly, her same-sex rivals could be chasing shadows.
Lerena’s book of rides suggests a race-to-race double is well within reach earlier on the card.
In Race 3, he partners Buffalo Storm Cody, officially the country’s highest-rated sprinter, over 1160m. Class horses win sprints like this on ability alone, and while he concedes fitness questions to some (after a trip to Cape Town for a Grade 1), sheer quality often tells over this trip.
Then comes Poets Warrior, trained by Mike Azzie, in Race 4. This Wylie Hall gelding made every post a winning one over the same 2400m course and distance last time, again under Lerena. Standside can favour those who control the tempo, and if allowed to dictate, he’s dangerous.
Saturday’s nine-race card has depth, but the betting angles are clear – side with proven speed in the features and trust established rider-horse combinations elsewhere.
Clive Robinson
