Final Field Mercury Sprint

1 EXCLAIM'N'EXCLUDE 60.0 109 (109) 12 A A Marcus Charles Laird

2 CAPTAIN'S SECRET 60.0 108 (108) 11 A A Domeyer Mike Bass

3 RABATTACHE 60.0 108 (108) 4 A .............Glen Puller

4 RUSHING WIND 60.0 107 (107) 13 B A M Yeni Mike Bass

5 AUGUST RUSH 60.0 106 (106) 6 A B Fayd'Herbe Neil Bruss

6 GAULTIER 60.0 106 (106) 1 A R Fradd Mike Bass

7 JINZO 60.0 106 (106) 2 A I Sturgeon Herman Brown

8 BUSH PIRATE 60.0 103 (103) 8 B A R Danielson Joey Ramsden

9 NEVER FOREVER 60.0 93 ( 93) 5 B A S Randolph Dennis Drier

10 SPLASH GOLD 59.5 113 (112) 7 A K Neisius Dean Kannemeyer

11 MAGICO 59.5 112 (111) 10 B A T A Delpech Paul Peter

12 COPPER PARADE 59.5 106 (105) 9 B A R Fourie Joey Ramsden

13 COVENANT 57.0 107 (106) 3 A K Shea Mike Bass

Magico to lead and Covenant to come flying late (tu)

dont leave out splash gold!

Hate saying this but its a very poor field

Magico have this race at his mercy

Looks pretty open to me, Hatt not riding for Ramsden...:S

Poor field, but Magico looks the best.

Where is Shea Shea?

I can't understand how you guys can label them poor horses when the average mr is over 100

Did Marcus have an option to choose his mount ?

It certainly isn't a good field of sprinters...Only Splash Gold, Magico and Covenant stands out...the rest is fairly ordinary 100 MR or not. Add Gibraltar Blue, Shea Shea, What a Winter and one or two others and we'd be really excited.

Smart three-year-olds Splash Gold, Magico and the filly Covenant take on some crack older sprinters in a smart field of 12 for this year’s running of the R550 000 Grade 1 Mercury Sprint.



The race to be run over 1200 m at Clairwood on Saturday, July 16, is the last major sprint race of the current season that ends on July 31 and was last year won by international star JJ The Jet Plane.



The Dean Kannemeyer-trained Splash Gold was the recent winner of the Post Merchants run at Greyville while Magico was given a look at the Clairwood racecourse last month by trainer Paul Peter with The Mercury Sprint in mind and his charge obliged with a six-length victory in a race named The Durban Dash.



Magico, a 1000m specialist, was due to face the Investec Cape Flying Championship winner What A Winter in that warm-up race but the Mike Bass-trained colt has since returned to Cape Town after injury put a premature end to his season.



Hopes of a win for the Bass stable will rest with the smart three-year-old filly Covenant, winner of the Sceptre Stakes and Klawervlei Majorca Stakes during the Cape summer.



She has had two relatively disappointing outings during the Champions Season and her connections will be looking to pay expenses come next Saturday.



Of the older horses, Captain’s Secret finished close-up in the Post Merchants while August Rush was runner-up to Shea Shea in the Golden Horse Casino Sprint. The ever consistent Never Forever will have his supporters while course specialist Exclaim’N’Exclude will sport the silks of the country’s leading owners, Markus and Ingrid Jooste for the Charles laird stable.


Andrew Harrison

telling us what we all know another poor piece of journalism...