Errol Flynn is topping the bill

Exciting prospect Errol Flynn has been installed as the early bookmakers’ favourite for the 2026 Betway Summer Cup to be run at Joburg’s Turffontein racecourse on 28 November for a stake of R6-million.

The race sponsor has the Joey Soma-trained four-year-old gelding on offer at 8.00 – seven weeks out from the bell for the Highveld’s historic horse race.

A wide-open market opened up when 43 first entries for the Grade 1 contest over 2000m were unveiled.

The Summer Cup has thrown up a number of shock winners in the past decade, so gun-shy punters understandably will be a bit wary of the ante-post market enthusiasm usually associated with big, glamorous races.

Last year’s 100-1 upset by Mocha Blend is still very fresh in the memory, while hefty blows inflicted by Atticus Finch (20-1, 2024), Royal Victory (30-1, 2023), Flying Carpet (25-1, 2021) and Zillzal (28-1, 2019) left long-lasting bruises.

Two dozen horses are sandwiched between 11.00 and 26.00 on Betway’s board this week.

This type of odds pattern offers brave backers tempting prices on a host of smart horses. The likes of Grand Empire and Gladatorian, both recent winners of big races at the Big T, will turn a few heads at 17.00. What about last year’s Summer Cup runner-up Olivia’s Way, another local hero, at 26.00? And the names Choisaanada, Magic Verse, Tintin and Fire Attack at crazy long odds will probably see the betting picture change rapidly as early speculative money flows in.

Errol Flynn was marked down as a likely future champion when he won five of six starts over the first seven months of this year, including the final two legs of the Highveld Winter Series.

His last effort, in early July, was particularly impressive as he sauntered past decent opposition in the Grade 3 Sea Cottage Stakes at Turffontein, with both trainer Soma and jockey Keagan de Melo gushing about the youngster’s quality and potential.

An interesting entry is British-bred Calla Lagoon from the Stuart Pettigrew stable. This five-year-old entire is one of a posse of well-pedigreed horses being imported by businessman and horse owner Willem Ackerman as he strives to build an influential thoroughbred stud in Gauteng.

Calla Lagoon has won two of his three starts in South Africa, a Pinnacle Stakes over a mile being the peak achievement so far. He could be something special and will be closely watched in the coming days as he bids to qualify for inclusion in the Summer Cup.

Betway betting:

8.00 Errol Flynn (Soma)
11.00 Mocha Blend (Robinson)
13.00 King Pelles (Van Zyl), The Ultimate King (Peter)
15.00 Calla Lagoon (Pettigrew)
16.00 Native Ruler (Snaith)
17.00 Grand Empire (Tarry), Gladatorian (Ferrie), Holding Thumbs (G Kotzen), Immediate Edge (De Kock), Jan Van Goyen (De Kock), Isivivane (Muscutt), Littlemissmillion (Zackey)
21.00 Magic Verse (Snaith), Reet Petite (De Kock), Otto Luyken (Crawford)
26.00 Busstopinhounslow (Maroun), Choisaanada (Verdonese), Chronicle King (Dawson), Drumnadrochit (De Kock), Field Marshall (N Kotzen), Madison Valley (N Kotzen), Tomyris (Peter), Solar Sail (Matchett), Olivia’s Way (Magner)
29.00 Tintin (Tarry)
34.00 to 70.00 the others.