From The Horse's Mouth - Mark Van Deventer

Golden Palm (s/s 94 ++) is potentially one to follow in the upcoming Fillies Classics, should she venture down to Cape Town from her Eastern Cape base with Alan Greeff.

She’s travelled in the opposite direction before, winning the Thekwini Stakes as a juvenile at Greyville in July (though that form has not amounted to much since) and was 3/10 odds on favorite to get her 3YO season under way in a Listed race at Fairview on Friday. Jockey Richard Fourie settled her at the back of a small field before sweeping clear from 300m out to win with authority, as everyone expected.

The Equator is a 4/1 favourites chance antepost for the Summer Cup. He won his prep race without any problem at Turffontein earning a speed score of 99 +. He will need to run above 106 + to win the Cup, but Tony Peter’s entry has the scope to achieve a higher number as he wasn’t fully extended in Sunday’s romp against a short field.

In other action, Peter’s quality speedball, Buffalo Storm Cody s/s 105 + asserted his authority in a Conditions Plate Sprint, though there were some tense moments when he got caught in a pocket. However, once Richard Fourie extricated him from traffic he rushed away over the final furlong for a fluent victory.

Versatile and classy, Fire Attack s/s 103 sprinted well to be second, a length behind. Alec Laird now sends him to Eric Sands’’s Milnerton stables for the Cape Summer Season. He is of interest in big races at Kenilworth based on excellent numbers (s/s 109 +) recorded between 1800m and 2000m at Turffontein and Greyville. And Sunday’s fine sprint up suggests he retains considerable natural ability.

There was also racing at Durbanville on Saturday, albeit at a more humble level, though Tenpenny showed he could be better than officially rated. Paddy Kruyer’s charge showed a powerful turn of foot to give Industrial Strength start and a beating at Durbanville on Saturday.

Call to Unite set steady fractions, with JP van Der Merwe sitting chilly at the back on Tenpenny. Craig Zackey did the right things to make an early move on heavily punted, Industrial Strength but when JP unleashed Tenpenny in a closing fraction of 22.3 seconds it was race over. With a sectional upgrade, the winning speed figure awarded is 103, suggesting Tenpenny, who might be ahead of the handicapper, can handle even tougher rivals.

An unusually named seven-year-old galloper with low key origins in Cairns, Australia has been on a roll in Hong Kong this season. Tomodachi Kokoroe (s/s 110) has really found form under trainer David Hayes’ care (he also trains the world’s highest ranked sprinter, Ka Ying Rising) and scored his biggest victory to date in the G2 Premier Bowl at Sha Tin on Sunday.

After being smashed in the betting from around 7’s into 3.9 on the Tote, the light weight, perfectly handled by Harry Bentley, stalked the speed before moving up strongly in mid-stretch to power clear of the opposition.

Part of the “romance” of racing is that really good horses can come from anywhere. Tomodachi Kokoroe started out in anonymity, getting rolled in Maidens at Geelong and Bendigo in 2021, before winning a string of sprint handicaps in Cairns and Townsville in Queensland.

He was then sold to Hong Kong, but it is not as if his career there has always been successful – in fact he commenced at a low level, winning a few times during the 2023/24 season, only to regress and fail to win a race during a dry 2024/25 campaign.

But he’s returned revived after the summer break and has reeled off a hat trick, culminating in this prestigious sprint handicap victory and a career peak fig of 110.