Bettors playing the Highveld card at the Vaal Racecourse on Thursday 5 March could do worse than build their perms around one yard, as Sean Tarry’s battalion looks poised to plunder at least three of the 10 races on the Classic track.
With heavyweight jockey support from Keagan de Melo, Callan Murray and Ryan Munger, this meeting shapes as one where bettors will likely be rewarded for calculated strikes rather than a scattergun raid of hopeful punts.
And it may start as early as Race 1 over 1200m, where the beautifully bred Grande Hawaii should get Tarry and De Melo off to a winning start. This daughter of Hawwaam shaped with plenty of promise when third of 10 on debut over 1160m, travelling kindly before just lacking the final punch. That experience edge is gold dust against unraced opposition. Natural improvement is expected and, from a yard that knows how to ready a juvenile second-up, she sets the standard in the opener.
By Race 3, over 1200m, Tarry could already be onto a double. Speedman has done little wrong in four starts, tasting defeat just once, and the son of Vercingetorix looks a three-year-old going places. His latest win over 1450m on Turffontein’s Inside track was achieved with enough tactical pace to suggest the drop back to a sharp 1200m won’t inconvenience him – it might even sharpen him.
Munger, who clicked immediately with him last time, keeps the ride. That continuity counts, and so does the profile: progressive, adaptable, and still ahead of the handicapper.
Murray’s book of rides also catches the eye. He partners the well-related Top Floor in Race 4 over 1600m and there was plenty to like about the gelding’s fast-finishing second over the same trip a fortnight ago. Now in the powerful Mike & Mathew de Kock yard after starting his career with James Crawford, the son of Rafeef has been gelded and appears to be thriving in his new environment. He would have tightened up considerably with that comeback run under his belt. With even marginal improvement, he looks poised to go one better.
Murray could double up in Race 8 over 2000m aboard well-bred One More Star. Trained by Alec Laird, the son of One World is a proven course-and-distance performer, having won two of four over this very track and trip before a disappointing last-start effort in stronger company that is best forgiven.
Back at his favourite venue, eased in grade, and reunited with a rider who knows how to time a run on this expansive circuit, One More Star makes solid each-way appeal in what is otherwise a tricky handicap.
De Melo aims his next major bullet in Race 9 over 1000m. Here he partners highly regarded Pivotal Role for Johan Janse van Vuuren. This Hawwaam gelding wasn’t disgraced when third over course and distance on his return from a break last time, showing bright early pace before fitness told late. That form has already been franked, and off an unchanged rating with the benefit of that pipe-opener, he should strip sharper. In this grade, he looks the one they all have to beat.
Tarry will probably have the final say in Race 10 over 1450m. Trail Runner, a daughter of Lancaster Bomber, has blossomed since the blinkers went on: two wins and a second from three starts with the headgear is compelling evidence. She scored with authority over this trip on handicap debut at Turffontein’s Inside track three weeks ago and, although hit with a four-point penalty, her upward trajectory suggests she can defy top weight, even against male opposition.
Munger, already potentially on the board with Speedman, could well be anchoring the exotics with her late in the day.
For punters, the blueprint is clear: follow the stable, respect the jockey bookings, and don’t get too clever trying to beat horses who look ready to win.
Clive Robinson
