Expect a grey day in Cape
Jockey Grant van Niekerk and trainer Mike Bass seem to have found the key to Bordered In Grey and a bit of a betting coup was pulled it off last time as the gelding was backed in from 7-1 to 5-2 and won very easily.
Grant Van Niekerk rides Bordered In Grey
The Greys Inn gelding could follow up by winning Race 8, a MR 86 Handicap over 1600m at Kenilworth today. After a long sequence of modest efforts and the drop in merit rating Bordered In Grey teamed up with Van Niekerk in January and ran an improved sixth, beaten just 3.80 lengths by Big Ed over 2500m at this track.
A drop in trip to 2000m saw a much better effort from the Bass-runner and his second to Royal Dreamer was full of merit. A further drop in trip to 1600m seemed to bring out the best in Bordered In Grey and he was full of running in his win earlier this month. A rise of four points for the win does not seem excessive and Bordered In Grey is worth a bet.
Henry Of York bounced back to his best with a well-fought victory at Durbanville last month but it remains to be seen if he can follow up on that. Valerio and Cotton Mill both have ability but tend to lack a strong finish so are always vulnerable over this testing trip but could be good enough for minor places.
Recent easy maiden winner Waiting For Rain will be receiving chunks of weight from all the field but is up in class and against some seasoned rivals. Man From Milan has run some better races since the blinkers were removed and could race fresh after his 60-day break.
