From The Horse's Mouth - Mark Van Deventer

Whilst sometimes meandering all over the show to cover multiple racing topics of interest, this blog focusses mainly on the higher profile races around the country, taking in seasonal shifts. From Jozi in the Spring and late Summer to Cape Town during Summer, and KZN in Winter there is a familiar year-round rhythm to racing in South Africa.

It’s been some time since we checked out racing from Scottsville, but that is covered in this week’s article – before we know it the KZN Winter season will be in full swing.

Talk to the Master is an interesting case. Sold with the intention of going to Mauritius, plans changed and he remains in SA under the care of returning trainer, Dom Zaki. He is a smart horse with the potential to win a lucrative feature, confirmed by an easy romp on Wednesday, worthy, after a sectional upgrade, of a speed fig of 99 ++.

The fillies, Rahhabba s/s 97, top-weighted front-runner, Ice Rain s/s 96 and Miss Twinkle s/s 95 are also worth adding to Horse Watch Lists. They fought out a Middle Stakes, finishing in that order, with the last- named producing the swiftest come home sectional of the trio.

Dean Kannemeyer’s Maphaka got the highest figure on the day for sprinters. A s/s of 97 is better than par standard for Class 4. He was held up by Sean Veale at the back of the field, came around runners to assert in the final jumps and defeat Who Blinked, s/s 96.

Okavango s/s 96 + (has run 103 before) won Sunday’s King’s Cup in a false paced affair. Taken to the lead he had it his own way up front, with enough in reserve to keep stayer King Pelles at bay, who ran the final 400m in 23 seconds flat.

Top figure of the day, somewhat surprisingly, went to well-tried Circumbendibus s/s 97. He took out the finale in a quick 55.5 seconds. After taking the fast-running track into account it was still a career top performance by the Glen Kotzen trained gelding. He typically runs around 90 but should add to his tally if sustaining this level.

On the Highveld, Daimyo won the Aquanaut Stayers without undue fuss. He led practically every bound around Turffontein circuit to win comfortably under Calvin Habib. Alec Laird trains this talented marathon runner who mixes his form but is hard to run down when in the right frame of mind.