Weekend runner comments

Mike and Mathew de Kock have a number of promising runners stepping out after periods of rest this weekend. The Lucky Fish ambassadors are prepping them with a view to contesting features in KwaZulu-Natal this winter.

Mat noted that rain had interrupted some essential work at Randjesfontein in recent weeks, which puts Sunday’s Turffontein runners just a little behind schedule against potentially fitter rivals. However, good showings are expected, all round.

Here are the previews:

Hollywoodbets Greyville, Saturday, 9 May (Mike):

Race 5, 1400m: “Greenhouse comes off a break. She has a 4kg claimer on board and an inside draw in her favour, but she’s not at her best and will need the outing.”

Race 10, 1400m: “Gotta Go Eddie enjoys more ground and we were going to run him over further in Gauteng, but he drew badly. He is in good form at home, so we decided to race him in KZN to keep him ticking over. He is fine with the Polytrack and ran a very good race to I’m A Fireball and Roland Garros over 1400m at Hollywoodbets Scottsville in March. On the strength of that, he has to be included in bets. He’s in with a shout.”

Turffontein (standside), Sunday, 10 May (Mat):

Race 1, 1000m: “We have a nice Rafeef colt here, Haute Couture. His dam has already produced two decent sorts in his full-brother City Of Love, and the filly Francilien. Ours is showing quality work at home, I’d be very disappointed if he’s not very competitive here.”

Race 3, 1400m: “On what we’ve seen so far, Onward is pretty limited and has been one-paced in both her races. She’s taking on older fillies, but they may be of slightly lesser quality so perhaps she can get closer. Hoping for a better performance now that she has some experience under the belt.”

Race 4, 1800m: “We had to take the difficult decision with owner Henk Leyenaar to geld  Jan Van Goyen after the SA Classic because he was hemo concentrating. He seems to be better off for it. His work is good and we’re happy with his progress. He is coming off a bit of a rest into an 1800m contest which is a concern, but we’re prepping him for a race like the Daily News. This is a nice pipe-opener for him, not a walkover field. We’re expecting him to get a good, hard blow-out and come on for the run.”

Race 5, 1160m: “We hold Flower Island in high regard, she is very talented. We initially planned to give her three to four weeks off but she had a few niggles and that became a longer layoff. The hiccups weren’t serious, she is doing well but the rain has prevented us from giving her our ideal preparation. I am a bit concerned about her fitness levels. She has a lot of room for improvement, a lot of class and hopefully that may compensate for her being short of peak fitness. But she may run out of steam, and it wouldn’t surprise me if she gets a bit tired in this race.”

Race 7, 1400m: “We have a nice pair of three-year-olds here, though both have been rested and will improve with their runs. Ovation Star and Dawson’s Anvil are both fairly well handicapped because they haven’t had a lot of racing and have plus signs next to their ratings. We’re looking forward to see them racing again. Ovation Star has a plum draw while Dawson’s Trail is drawn wide. So I like her, I think she has a winning chance. But include both in your play.”

Race 8, 1400m: “Yippee Kiyay was freshened up after the Classic and he’s come on well having put on some weight. He looks good, but is another who will improve with this run behind him. This is a strong field for his comeback, but there weren’t many other options. He’s not wound up, but we will be looking for a nice, forward run.”