Turf battle between newbies and locals at Fairview

Christopher Robin and Blackball are well-performed newcomers to Eastern Cape racing who bump into two local horses in good nick. It makes for an intriguing Pinnacle Stakes contest on the Fairview turf on Friday.

Racing is usually a fascinating puzzle, and especially so when you’re trying to concoct form equations between good horses that have seldom, if ever, encountered each other before.

Christopher Robin is a brand-new arrival at Jacques Strydom’s Fairview stable, fresh off a victory on the Highveld over highly rated Dr Doolittle. In all, the five-year-old entire won seven times up north for owner-trainer-breeder St John Gray and glories in a merit rating of 111.

Blackball has already had a run in PE, after transferring to Strydom from Gavin van Zyl’s yard in KwaZulu-Natal – running eighth returning to action after three-month break.

This seven-year-old gelding has amassed nine wins and has a MR of 108. He’s run in a bunch of elite staying races and is still to be reckoned with at an advanced racing age.

In Friday’s Race 4, over 2700m, these newbies come up against two veteran locals with MR97s to their names: Gavin Smith-trained Master Supreme, 5, who has won six times, and Tara Laing’s Aranjuez,7, who has won 10.

Of course, these “locals” are themselves erstwhile transplants from other places who have found Eastern Cape very much to their liking. They have never met at Fairview – surprising for a small jurisdiction and contributing to the punters’ problems in finding the winner.

It’s a race for the enthusiast and gets even more interesting when you add in a true local contender – and a mare nogal. That’ll be Miss Orange from Alan Greeff’s yard, an MR97 who knows her way around this ribbon of turf.

SELECTIONS

Race 1:

11 Savannah Winter, 1 Alloway Grove, 5 Piece Of My Heart, 7 Jungle Promise

Race 2:

1 Arctic Advance, 4 Bold Captain, 2 Born A Star, 3 Son Of Zeus

Race 3:

11 Sailaway With Me, 3 Lauretta Mia, 2 Ladonna Mia, 6 Sister Frieda

Race 4:

1 Christopher Robin, 4 Master Supreme, 3 Aranjuez, 2 Blackball

Race 5:

6 Legend Has It, 4 Sacred Ibis, 5 Silvia Louise, 9 World Squared

Race 6:

1 Tarantino, 9 Glacier Gold, 3 Firstamongequals, 7 Tsar Peter

Race 7:

2 Regimental, 10 Alpha Papa, 7 Forest Field, 6 Crown Guardian

Race 8:

7 King Julian, 9 Wind Sock, 1 Sh Boom, 16 World Cruise

Pick 6:

2,3,5,6,11 x 1,2,3,4 x 4,6 x 1 x 2,6,7,10 x 1,7,8,9,10,13,16,17 (R1280)

PA:

1,4 x 3,11 x 1,4 x 6 x 1 x 2 x 1,79 (R24)