THE top sprinting stars in South African racing have been entered in the four Grade 1 races to be run over 1 200m on Golden Horse Casino Sprint Day at Scottsville Racecourse on Saturday, May 31.
The new sprinting sensations JJ The Jet Plane, Merlene De Lago and Warm White Night were nominated by their stables in three of the four events and the only big name not mentioned on the entry list is that of the superstar Mythical Flight. The Sean Tarry runner, who finished second in the Golden Horse Casino Sprint last year, disappointed in the recent Computaform Sprint and attempts to determine his present condition were unsuccessful as his trainer is out of the country until next week.
JJ The Jet Plane, from the stable of Lucky Houdalakis, is now all the rage having won feature sprints in his last three starts including the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint at Turffontein. The three-year-old Jet Master gelding has won in impressive fashion and will no doubt start favourite for the R500 000, Grade 1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint.
Among his potential opposition in this race will be Gary Alexander’s Dominion Royale gelding Flintlock who finished a close second to him in the Computaform Sprint, Justin Snaith’s Relinyane and Red Flyer from the stable of Alistair Gordon.
There were only 11 entries for the R500 000, Grade 1 Gold Reef Resorts Medallion for juveniles with the South African Nursery winner Warm White Night heading the list. The Western Winter colt has been hugely impressive in winning both his starts, the most recent when he thrashed the field in the SA Nursery at Turffontein.
Trainer Corinne Bestel has nominated her Joshua Dancer filly She’s A Winner for this race as well as for the Allan Robertson Fillies Championship. The unbeaten filly took on the colts at Scottsville when she won the Godolphin Barb Stakes recently in easy fashion.
The R350 000, Grade 1 Allan Robertson Fillies Championship has drawn 23 entries and in addition to She’s A Winner, the star sprinting filly Merlene De Lago from the Charles Laird stable has been entered. She is unbeaten in three starts, all feature races, and won the SA Fillies Nursery as she liked last time out.
Also among the entries for this race are Kesha who has finished third to Merlene De Lago in each of the three features and Mike Azzie’s Western Winter filly On Her Toes who split the two when finishing second in the SA Fillies Nursery.
The 26 entries for the R350 000, Grade 1 South African Fillies Sprint includes last year’s winner of the race, Sean Tarry’s Ethereal Lady. She ran fourth in the recent Poinsettia Stakes at Scottsville and should be at her peak when she goes to post for this race.
Maelstrom from the yard of Michael Roberts, who ran second to Ethereal Lady last year, will try to reverse that decision this time round and the Herman Brown yard has nominated the Poinsettia Stakes winner Hot Reception.
The Brazilian-bred Rat Burana from the Mike de Kock yard, who won the Allan Robertson Fillies Championship last year, has been nominated and Justin Snaith has nominated his Vodacom Durban July entry, Dancer’s Daughter.
Dancer’s Daughter is said by Snaith to be a very versatile filly and with six wins from nine starts including the Paddock Stakes and the Majorca Stakes, her performance against the top speed horses will be interesting to see.
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