It’s time for Thanksgiving
That could be KwaZulu-Natal raider Thanksgiving.
STAR. National Colour, one of South Africa’s star sprinters, is among the top horses owned by Chris van Niekerk.
The Grade 1 Cape Derby is a tricky race because there is a full field of 20 horses and many of the highly regarded runners have wide draws.
Merit ratings indicate the three fillies are the best handicapped runners but their form could be suspect and it could be better to look at a colt with a decent draw.
That could be KwaZulu-Natal raider Thanksgiving.
Two runs back he finished second behind Hawwaam in the Grade 2 Dingaans over 1600m at Turffontein and had trainer Mike de Kock chosen to bring his charge to Cape Town for the Derby he would be a hot favourite to win this.
He is unbeaten in three starts and looks a possible star in the making.
That makes Thanksgiving worth following.
He is beautifully drawn in barrier No 2 and has former five-time champion jockey Mark Khan in the irons.
What is also significant is that after finishing second to Hawwaam, Thanksgiving returned to Durban and franked the form with an impressive win against older horses in a handicap.
Most of the talk is for Justin Snaith-trained Bunker Hill. He was well supported to win the Grade 3 Politician Stakes in his last race but jockey Richard Fourie came off at the start.
Whether he would have taken top honours is pure speculation as Twist Of Fate won well with plenty in hand.
However, prior to that he had won his last three starts and is obviously well above average.
Unfortunately, he has a wide draw but will also have lots of assistance from the saddle as he has a top jockey in Richard Fourie.
Two runs back Knights Templar finished 0.50 lengths behind Bunker Hill but could only man-age sixth place behind Twist Of Fate in the Politician Stakes.
He will need to improve on that if he is to be competitive in this race but at least he is not too badly drawn at No 9.Senatla finished second be-hind Twist Of Fate in the Politician Stakes and would have been the obvious selection had he not landed No 17 draw.
That will make life difficult for jockey Greg Cheyne and he will need some luck to win from there.
Second Request is the highest rated runner but she got much of her merit rating for finishing fourth in the Cape Fillies Guineas and then fifth in the Paddock Stakes, both Grade 1 races.
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