Clive Robinson
Two Class A Pinnacle Stakes headline the eight-race card at Turffontein on Thursday 16 June and with a total of eleven runners sporting a three-digit merit rating, both races promise to offer racegoers excitement galore.
Race 6, for fillies and mares over 1160m, sees two Sean Tarry-trained runners face off again after their raiding trip to Scottsville where they contested the Grade 1 South African Fillies Sprint over 1200m.
Sound Of Warning, a three-year-old daughter of Trippi, got the better of her stable companion Full Velocity when finishing third, with the latter 1.15-lengths further adrift.
Sound Of Warning did have the benefit of a 1kg weight advantage then. Now, back at home and carrying equal weight, it should get a lot closer between the two.
Rated 116, Sound Of Warning will have S’manga Khumalo in the saddle again while Gavin Lerena makes way for Keagan de Melo aboard Full Velocity (113).
Expect these two to fight out the finish, with Stuart Pettigrew’s Alula’s Star (111) and Heavens Girl (100) from Paul Peter’s yard completing the Quartet.
The dark horse in the field capable of causing an upset is Midnight Gem. Trained by Phillip Labuschagne, she was on a roll of four wins split by a runner-up finish before her disappointing trip to Scottsvillle where she ran last in the Fillies Sprint, her first attempt at Graded glory.
Back on the Highveld, and partnering with Muzi Yeni again, she could put that nightmare behind her and bounce back.
In Race 7 over 1400m, Sound Of Summer could well heat up the track in his second run after a break. This Silvano gelding from Peter’s yard has a perfect two from two record over the course and distance.
He didn’t show any signs of ring-rust in his comeback run and was beaten just 1.2-lengths by reopposing Willow Express.
With the benefit of that run, and a 2kg swing in weights, Sound Of Summer looks ready to reverse that result with Warren Kennedy again in the irons.
William Robertson, also from Tarry’s yard, will chase the aforementioned pair home. Whether he will take his place in the line-up is, however, questionable as he is carded to race in the Rising Sun Durban Dash at Greyville on the weekend.
