Tony Peter and Gavin Lerena look poised to dominate Saturday’s 25 July eight-race Turffontein Standside programme, with the leading trainer and jockey presenting punters with several of the day’s standout betting propositions.
Value hunters could get off to a flying start in Race 1 over 1400m with One State, a Peter-trained son of Grade 1 Met winner One World. This well-bred two-year-old, out of the Listed and Grade 3-placed Ideal World mare Free State, shaped with plenty of promise when finishing an improved fourth after returning from a break during which he was gelded.
That career-best effort came over this course and distance, and after a subsequent 97-day break to strengthen and mature, One State looks capable of taking a sizable step forward on his reappearance. With Muzi Yeni aboard, he appeals as one of the day’s better value plays.
Race 4 over 1160m offers an opportunity for Geostorm to reverse recent form with stablemate Winter In Auckland. The former, a Peter-trained Buffalo Bill Cody gelding, was narrowly denied by his rival over this course and distance a fortnight ago, but apprentice Girish Samo-Burthia’s valuable 2.5kg claim swings the weights decisively in Geostorm’s favour.
On revised terms, he is the one to side with.
Another son of Buffalo Bill Cody, Umzingeli Wenyathi, could exact revenge of his own in Race 5 over 1000m. Clinton Binda’s inmate, an improving three-year-old gelding, renews rivalry with last-start conqueror Plus Four on just 1kg better terms for a recent two-length defeat but the booking of champion jockey Gavin Lerena catches the eye.
Few riders are better at extracting every ounce from a willing sprinter, and that could prove the decisive factor.
Peter and Lerena reunite with arguably the meeting’s standout runner, Precocious, in Race 6. Although the classy Ideal World filly concedes weight to battle-hardened older males, she is the best-weighted horse in the race.
Since relocating to the Highveld she has won four of her six starts, developing into one of Peter’s most reliable performers. She tackles further than 1160m for the first time under his care, but being out of a Vercingetorix mare, there is every reason to believe the extra trip will suit.
Lerena can complete a lucrative afternoon aboard Winds Of Grace in the finale (Race 8 over 1400m). Mike Azzie’s charge, a consistent Act Of War filly, attracted solid market support in a stronger contest last time and now drops into more suitable company from the same handicap mark. If she reproduces that effort, she should prove difficult to deny.
Clive Robinson
