Trainer Dean Smith has his runners in very good shape and star sprinter Cruise Control looks the right one in Race 7, the Betway Cradock Place Stakes over 1200m.
The seven-year-old gelding won the first leg of the Nelson Mandela Bay Polytrack Challenge over 1200m a few weeks back but was a noticeable absentee from the second leg last Friday.
Smith clearly felt the 1400m of that second leg would have stretched the Querari gelding, but it is worth noting Cruise Control has been impressive on the Polytrack.
He is no slouch on the grass either and his record is very good. He has won 16 of his 34 starts, including nine of 23 on turf, and his course-and-distance record reads one win, one second and one third from just four races.
Surprisingly, it is not stable jockey Craig Zackey aboard the gelding this time, with Callan Murray getting his first ride on him.
Cruise Control is at level weights with three of his rivals, and it is only stable companion and Zackey-ridden Astronomical Boy to whom he has to give chunks of weight.
That should make Cruise Control hard to beat.
There are only seven runners carded for this, and he faces three possible dangers.
Astronomical Boy showed talent but was unreliable when trained in the Western Cape and arrived at his current yard with a record of two wins from seven starts. The well-bred Gimmethegreenlight gelding won on his local debut.
It was a narrow win, but he was well backed, and it is interesting to note that the runner-up that day, Kwagga Blitz, did win his next start.
That win of his was over this course and distance, and the quicker they go, the more he will enjoy it, as he packs a strong late kick.
Trainer Kelly Mitchley continues to have a steady stream of winners, and she has done a very good job with Anushka’s World.
This gelding has won five of 31 starts, but his last two wins were this year and over this course and distance.
Trainer Alan Greeff’s runners must always be considered at this track, and Fairy Knight gets to represent him under Richard Fourie.
He has not been at his best of late but was still not far behind in those performances and is well suited to this track and trip.
On the day, it will probably see some more winners for the Greeff-Fourie combination, as Kleinzee will be defending an unbeaten run of six starts for the yard in Race 5.
All those wins for Greeff have been on the Polytrack, but she did win on the grass twice in the Western Cape, so she cannot be faulted on that ground.
In the last race, it might be a Greeff 1-2 finish, as the bang-in-form Wild Fig may have to dig deep to fight off Silvan Mistress.
Clive Robinson
