Form favours the King

Last week trainer Candice Dawson was extremely disappointed that she was forced to pull Chronicle King out of Race 2 at Turffontein.

Her charge had a bruised foot and that left her with little option but to give the son of Vercingetorix a break. Fortunately, Chronicle King has overcome that injury and he has been declared to line up in Race 2 on the Vaal Classic track on Thursday, a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1600m.

Chronicle King has only raced once, in a Maiden Juvenile Plate over 1450m on the Turffontein Inside track. He was easy to back and went off at odds of 25-2, but that was mainly because Mike and Mathew de Kock-trained Whispering Death was sent off a 4-10 favourite after finishing an excellent second on debut.

Whispering Death, a half-brother to Grade 1 SA Derby winner Aragosta and six-time winner Mrs Browning, went on to win his next start as well, going off at 4-10 in that field over 1600m and beating Ideal Summer by 2.40 lengths. Even that form was franked as the Alec Laird-trained runner-up went on to win his next start by 3.25 lengths.

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So overall, those look to be extremely potent form lines and that augurs well for Chronicle King.

What is even more relevant is the fact that Gavin Lerena has elected to ride Dawson’s charge over the De Kock-trained Fire Starter, who he rode on debut and who he steered to a very encouraging third on debut. Lerena has also been aboard Whispering Death in his two victories so he clearly values the respective form lines.

In fact, Race 2 and Race 3 look the two races on the day to help build up a kitty for the rest of the meeting which does not look easy.

In Race 3, trainer Paul Matchett could be on the mark when he sends out Matcha Mint in a Maiden Juvenile Plate for fillies over 1600m. This filly is a half-sister to Tyrconnell by Gimmethegreenlight and finished third on debut and followed that up with a second place in her next start.

Those two races were over 1160m and 1200m respectively and on breeding she should be looking for this kind of distance.

Matcha Mint will be assisted by the news that there are three scratchings in the race, Far Beyond, Fire On Fire and Opera Fan. Craig Zackey will be taking the ride this time and a TAB AllTo-Come bet on the pair, or a double, looks the way to go.

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