Cash incentives for raiding trainers are working.
For illustration only. Picture: Clive Rose/Getty Images
Seven of the 18 carded runners for next weekend’s Allied Steelrode Onamission Charity Mile at Turffontein are “raiders” from the stables of trainers based outside the Highveld – apparently justifying the generous visitor incentives announced recently.
Half the Charity Mile field have also been nominated for the R6-million Betway Summer Cup – Joburg’s premier horse race – to be contested at the city track a month down the line.
Five runners are merit-rated 117 or above, while the lowest rating is 108.
Such factors ensure that the Grade 2 race continues to grow in stature on the national racing calendar.
The event, once known as the Germiston November Handicap and won by greats like Foveros and Wolf Power in days gone by, is nowadays a special fixture designed to highlight the racing game’s social conscience and commitment to good causes.
Intriguing runners are Eastern Cape revelation Zinovi, British import Calla Lagoon, champion trainer Justin Snaith’s roving ambassador Malmesbury Misssile and stamina horse Holding Thumbs – not to mention a trio of challengers from the powerhouse yard of Mike & Mathew de Kock: I’m A Fireball, Splittheeights and Greaterix.
Zinovi is a perfect example of how a sometime moderate performer can be given a new lease on racing life with a move to a different centre.
The five-year-old gelding had lapsed into the plods while living in Joburg but Nelson Mandela Bay’s sea air and the magic touch of Alan Greeff got him firing again and he has registered eight wins in his last 10 runs.
Calla Lagoon, bred by mighty Juddmonte Farms in the UK, has been expensively imported for Willem Ackerman’s burgeoning upcountry breeding operation and the new investors want nothing more than a splash of gold lettering on the race record.
After clocking up two minor race successes locally, the Stuart Pettigrew-trained five-year-old has been heavily backed for both the Charity Mile and the Summer Cup. Such support demands notice.
Of the De Kock candidates, speedy I’m A Fireball is coming to hand rather nicely. Well beaten by stablemate Splittheeights in the Gauteng Guineas earlier this year, I’m A Fireball has shown steady improvement since and a runner-up finish to Gladatorian in the recent Joburg Spring Challenge at Turffontein suggested he was ready to move up to the next level.
Andre Nel’s sometime Durban July quiet fancy Zeitz, along with Peter Muscutt’s duo Isivivane and I Salute You, will merit scrutiny – especially as travellers up the N3 from Durban have a good record at the Big T.
Allied Steelrode Onamission Charity Mile, Grade 2, R1m, 1600m
(No., draw, name, weight, MR, equipment, jockey, trainer)
1 2 Cosmic Speed 60 121 A Craig Zackey Sean Tarry
2 12 Choisaanada 59.5 120 A Raymond Danielson Erico Verdonese
3 14 Zinovi 59.5 120 T A Richard Fourie Alan Greeff
4 5 Holding Thumbs 59 119 BA Chad Little Glen Kotzen
5 1 I’m A Fireball 57.5 117 T A Muzi Yeni Mike / Mathew de Kock
6 9 Pressonregardless 57 115 HA Diego De Gouveia David Nieuwenhuizen
7 6 Chronicle King 56.5 115 A Andrew Fortune Candice / Tammy Dawson
8 8 Zeitz 56.5 114 BA Serino Moodley Andre Nel
9 17 I Salute You 56 113 BA *Anaas Mosaheb Peter Muscutt
10 3 Otto Luyken 56 113 TBA Juan Paul v’d Merwe James Crawford
11 10 Calla Lagoon (GB) 55 111 A Philasande Mxoli Stuart Pettigrew
12 18 Grand Empire 54.5 111 A Keagan de Melo Sean Tarry
13 15 Malmesbury Missile 54.5 111 BA Tristan Godden Justin Snaith
14 19 Busstopinhounslow 54.5 110 T A Malesela Katjedi Grant Maroun
15 13 Greaterix 54.5 110 A Calvin Habib Mike / Mathew de Kock
16 16 Kisshoten 54 109 A Kabelo Matsunyane Tony Peter
17 4 Splittheeights 53.5 109 A Callan Murray Mike / Mathew de Kock
18 7 Isivivane 53.5 108 A *Blaine Marx-Jacobson Peter Muscutt
19 11 Immediate Edge 53.5 108 BA Reserve 1 Mike / Mathew de Kock
