Final Fields Track n Ball Derby n Oaks

1 KINGSTON MINES 60.0 102 (102) 13 A S Khumalo Mike de Kock

2 DISCO AL 60.0 101 (101) 1 A A Marcus Joey Ramsden

3 DEPUTY JUD 60.0 98 ( 98) 2 A W Marwing Mike Azzie

4 COLTRANE 59.0 102 (102) 11 A D Dillon Joey Ramsden

5 KILLUA CASTLE 59.0 100 (100) 12 A T C Maujean Geoff Woodruff

6 WAVIN' FLAG 58.0 99 ( 99) 7 A C Orffer Brett Crawford

7 STORM WARNING 58.0 97 ( 97) 6 A R Simons Johan Janse van Vuuren

8 GREEK LEGEND 58.0 91 ( 91) 10 B A *L Hewitson Mike Azzie

9 GREAT RUMPUS 58.0 87 ( 87) 14 A A Forbes Frank Robinson

10 FRENCH REVOLUTION 58.0 86 ( 86) 8 A T A Domeyer Andre Nel

11 THREE BALLOONS 58.0 82 ( 82) 5 B A G van Niekerk Mike Bass

12 BANKABLE TEDDY 55.0 101 ( 95) 4 B A K de Melo Brian Wiid

13 CAPE SPEED 55.0 96 ( 90) 9 A A Delpech Dean Kannemeyer

14 KITTY'S DESTINY 55.0 95 ( 89) 3 B A M Yeni Duncan Howells

1 GALLICA ROSE 60.0 97 ( 97) 6 A D Dillon Joey Ramsden

2 THE CENTENARY 59.0 98 ( 98) 12 A R Simons Mike de Kock

3 MA CHOIX 59.0 96 ( 96) 2 A A Domeyer Andre Nel

4 PATCHIT UP BABY 58.0 96 ( 96) 13 A M Yeni Duncan Howells

5 GATHERING FAME 58.0 95 ( 95) 7 B A K de Melo Dennis Drier

6 VINO VERITAS 58.0 95 ( 95) 3 B A W Kennedy Gavin van Zyl

7 DEPUTY RYDER 58.0 94 ( 94) 8 A A Delpech Neil Bruss

8 MARMALADY 58.0 91 ( 91) 4 A W Marwing Ormond Ferraris

9 NIGHTINGALE 55.0 102 ( 96) 5 A G van Niekerk Mike Bass

10 FLYING ICE 55.0 98 ( 92) 11 B A R Danielson Neil Bruss

11 WITCHCRAFT 55.0 94 ( 88) 10 A T ............ Sean Tarry

12 WORK ETHIC 55.0 93 ( 87) 9 B A S Khumalo Gavin van Zyl

13 CHRISTMAS CAROL 55.0 83 ( 77) 1 A C Maujean Geoff Woodruff

Highly competitive fields have been received for the two Grade 3 feature events over 2 400m on Derby Day at Scottsville Racecourse in Pietermaritzburg this coming Sunday where close and exciting finishes could be the order of the day.

The Track & Ball Derby and Track & Ball Oaks, both carrying stakes of R300 000, have replaced the former “classic” events at level weights for three-year-olds and are now run as open weight-for-age events over the classic distance and will be run on the inside track at the Pietermaritzburg venue.

The Track & Ball Oaks includes many well-performed runners including the first three across the line in the East Coast Handicap - Deputy Ryder, Gathering Fame and Ma Choix - and weight differentials in Sunday’s race could see a change in their finishing positions among.

The Centenary and Patchit Up Baby, second and third in the Gerald Rosenberg at Turffontein are also among the runners as well at the winner of the Scarlet Lady, Gallica Rose, where Deputy Ryder ran a close second.

The runner that will likely draw the most attention, however, is the Silvano filly Nightingale from the Mike Bass stable than ran second to Bela-Bela in the Daisy Fillies Guineas then finished third behind her again in the Grade 1 Woolavington 2000.

The difficulty with the runners in the Track & Ball Derby is that few of the 14 contestants have recent inspirational form although most have shown top class ability in their careers.

The field includes the six-year-old Captain Al gelding Disco Al that set the class record for 2 400m at Scottsville when winning this race last year but his recent form is less than encouraging while an interesting development in rider selection is that Anton Marcus, regular pilot of the Joey Ramsden-trained Coltrane that has featured in the first three in his last three races, has taken the ride on Disco Al instead.

With no runner from the Sean Tarry stable in the field, S’manga Khumalo has been engaged to ride the British-bred Kingston Mines for the Mike de Kock stable. The five-year-old failed to feature in the recent Lonsdale Stirrup Cup but he had finished in the first three in his two previous feature events in the Cape.

Storm Warning from the Johan Janse van Vuuren stable never featured in the Lonsdale either but had finished third in the Gold Bowl before that while the three-year-olds Cape Speed and Kitty’s Destiny are two of those with the most consistent recent form. There good recent form was, however, established on the polytrack at Greyville over 1 800m and 1 900m.

Two very competitive races appear to be on the cards and close finishes are likely

Richard Mcmillan

I cant see the "Oaks" being very competitve unless the high recent workload is catching up to Nightingale.

Nightingale to destroy them mate ^

Coltrane / Nightingale

I agree on Nightingale and I think Bankable Teddy very hard to beat in the 'Derby'

Frodo wrote: I agree on Nightingale and I think Bankable Teddy very hard to beat in the 'Derby'

I agree Bankable teddys name has been stuck in my head the whole season

Betting out. Nightingale 9/10. should we wait till race day for a better price?

MasterOfMyFate wrote: Betting out. Nightingale 9/10. should we wait till race day for a better price?

Not a huge diff, but if it does drift come race time I will snap it up again, but got evens earlier this afternoon.