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Good Traveller should enjoy the trip to up the coast to Ibhayi
Glen Kotzen's highy-rated three-year-old has mixed it at elite level in Durban and Cape Town and should prove a tough nut in the 1400m Ibhayi.
Expect plenty of racing action across the country this weekend. Picture: Lee Warren/Gallo Images
It is a compliment to racing in Eastern Cape that the quality of visiting horses from Cape Town keeps rising. Raiding trainers are having to bring bigger and bigger guns to their assaults on the ramparts of Fairview’s feature programme.
On Friday, the Ibhayi Stakes (Listed) and the Lady’s Pendant (Listed) are the spoils and the usual suspects from the west are in town.
Glen Kotzen brings highly rated Good Traveller, a three-year-old who has mixed it at elite level in Durban and Cape Town and should prove a tough nut in the 1400m Ibhayi.
Candice Bass-Robinson goes with in-form Resonate, while Justin Snaith has the improving Ravensthorpe.
The local defence is mainly in the hands of Whatever Next from the Alan Greeff stable, described by one pundit as arguably the best three-year-old in Eastern Cape”.
In the 1200m weight-for-age Lady’s Pendant, Bass-Robinson holds the class card with Santa Maria, a speedy, consistent, three-from-nine filly we are probably yet to see the best of.
In opposition is Snaith’s dangerous duo of Mercury Rising and Phil’s Dancer.
Here the home team is led by Gavin Smith’s ultra-consistent four-year-old Joyful Noise, who cannot be left out of permutations.
In earlier races, Kotzen appears to have Race 4 under his thumb with Oh So Squishy, while Snaith will have a tougher time in the fifth with Sabina’s Prodigy.
SELECTIONS
1: 1 Cruise Control, 2 Forest Spy, 6 Feeling Foxy, 3 Bouquet
2: 7 Miss Rose, 8 Tide Is High, 1 V V Power, 12 Royal Welcome
3: 7 Jack In The Box, 3 Vanderbilt, 2 Augusta Green, 8 Duke Of Orange
4: 12 Oh So Squishy, 7 Wings Of Fire, 6 Sultanah, 13 Bold Decision
5: 6 Sabina’s Prodigy, 7 Great Warrior, 3 Marmara Sea, 1 Divine Odyssey
6: 13 Santa Maria, 11 Mercury Rising, 3 Joyful Noise, 1 Phil’s Dancer
7: 1 Good Traveller, 2 Whatever Next, 5 Resonate, 4 Maryah
8: 8 Opulence, 12 Legend Has it, 5 Ideal Angel, 2 Kayc Al
Pick 6: 2,3,7 x 6,7,12,13 x 1,3,6,7 x 3,11,13 x 1,2 x 2,3,5,7,8,10,12 (R2016)
PA: 7,8 x 2,3,7 x 7,12 x 3,6,7 x 13 x 1 x 5,8,12 (R108)
