Clive Robinson
It is not common for horse to win his maiden and then follow it up immediately with another victory. Generally, to achieve that a horse has to have some ability, especially if he has only raced four times.
That seems to be the case with African Torrent who, after running unplaced on debut and a fast-finishing fourth in his next start, followed up with two successive victories. He beat Battleground by a head to shed his maiden and completed a double with a 0.50-length victory over Atticus Finch.
He clearly is not a horse who triumphs by large margins, but he did win both starts with a touch of merit. His last victory, especially, was impressive as the runner-up is no slouch. Atticus Finch did disappoint a little last week a 2.65-length third behind Future Pearl but it was his second race after a layoff and he did concede 10kg to the winner.
African Torrent now sits on a possible hat-trick of wins when he lines in Race 5 on the Standside track at Turffontein on Tuesday, a MR 76 Handicap over 1800m.
Trained by the father-and-son team of Michael and Adam Azzie and to be ridden Diego de Gouveia, this three-year-old colt is the full brother to White River who was pretty useful when he raced in South Africa. Trained by Brett Crawford, he finished a 0.50-length second in the Grade 1 Cape Guineas and then was a close-up fourth in the Grade 1 Daily News 2000.
He was sold to Mauritius where he has been a revelation, winning eight of his 11 races on the island.
So, if African Torrent has a modicum of that ability, he looks to have a bright future. The advantage of winning races by narrow margins is that he only received a 2kg penalty for his last victory and comes into this race with just 55.5kg on his back.
The main threat could come from Tyrus Express who remarkably received an 18-point drop in is merit rating two runs back and last time started showing some of his old form.
Now seven years old, this Paul Matchett-trained gelding gets a further advantage as he will be ridden by a 4kg claimer in Siyanda Sosibo who recently has proven to be worth every kilo of his apprentice allowance.
That mean Tyrus Express will have just 51kg on his back and that will make him highly competitive.
