From The Horse's Mouth - Mark Van Deventer

At one stage, sickness threatened to completely undermine Eight on Eighteen's career aspirations. Brilliant at three, he then got badly ill and struggled to come back. Over an extended period, he has been expertly nursed back to health and racing fitness by Justin Snaith’s team, and delivered when it really counted in the season-ending, HKJC G1 Champions Cup on Super Sunday at Greyville.

Jockey, Richard Fourie, convinced that Eight on Eighteen was rounding back to form after some excellent recent work outs, rode him with confidence. They made a powerful stretch run down the center of the track to win with authority from veteran stable mate, See It Again, a perennial, principal candidate in G1 middle-distance contests in South Africa.

After taking sectional times into account, as well as adjusted final time, Eight on Eighteen merits a towering speed figure of 117 which puts him in elite company!

See It Again’s late rally is worthy of a speed score of 113 - he continues to hit excellent numbers as he closes in on his 7th birthday.

Major Defender and The Real Prince were well beaten with scores of 106, below the peak figures they have achieved in the past.

Buffalo Storm Cody s/s 112 got a perfect ride from Gavin Lerena to win the G1 Mercury Sprint. He stalked the early pace then quickened up at the right time to hold off Jet Force s/s 110 and the mare, Asiye Phambili s/s 108, who dashed home from far back.

Holding Thumbs dictated a slow-paced Gold Cup and duly went all the way to improve on his second-place finish in last year’s 3200m marathon when beaten by King Pelles. That rival was pulled out the race on Sunday, which opened the way for Holding Thumbs to gallop his rivals into submission.

Ahead of the Facts made late headway, but Glen Kotzen’s pace-presser, ridden by Chad Little, was not for catching.

Speaking of slow-paced races, a few of the features went at tepid early tempo’s and were won by horses able to quicken better than their foes. That’s how Mocha Blend won the G2 Gold Bracelet, her closing fraction of 22.4 seconds the fastest in the field.

And Palace of Arvernia, well positioned by Craig Zackey, got first run on rivals in the false-run, Debutante Stakes (G2). Sweet Green, a big baby weighing in over 500kg, is the horse to take out of the race as she closed quickest of all from off the pace to get within a length of Dean Kannemeyer’s accomplished juvenile.

Erik Dubois s/s 94 + won the G1 Premier’s Champion Stakes in a thriller over Kazenoyoni to record a momentous first win at this level for the sire, Erik the Red and stalwart trainer, Louis Goosen who has been working with thoroughbreds for over three decades.

The suggestion is for third placed, Red Spice to go straight onto “Horse Tracker” lists. Dropped out from an outside draw at the 1600m start to trail the field, he ran on particularly swiftly (22.77 seconds final 400m) to be two lengths behind Erik Dubois. Red Spice’s performance should be marked up, and Piet/Elbert Steyn’s entry appeals as a long-range Classic contender.

Fish Tales (conditioned by James Crawford) and Marchland (from Kelly Mitchley’s Fairview yard) got identical speed figs of 92, when taking out the Umkhomazi and Thekwini Stakes respectively. Both races are Grade 2’s for juveniles.

With natural improvement as they mature physically, they should be able to run numbers over 100.

A captivating day’s racing was bookended by fine performances. Zeitz s/s 107 with sectional upgrade, got the better of Major Master s/s 106 in a driving finish to the opener. Andre Nel’s grey just does so well in KZN and has a sharp turn of foot in races around a mile. He seems best under those circumstances, though he has tried further where his finish becomes somewhat blunted.

25/1 outsider Fortress of Fire s/s 104 + was backed at long odds in the night cap, the Umngeni Handicap over 1000m. Ridden cold by Rachel Venniker, who shrewdly anticipated a pace meltdown, the 3YO dashed down the outer to mug Lion Rampart s/s 103 on the post with another deep closer, Symphony in White s/s 100 ++ also swooping into the money.

Longshot, Kaiboy s/s 100 snared fourth place to trigger a 39K quartet dividend. Fancied horses missing the frame and longshots hitting the board, is the recipe for big exotic payouts.