Breeze Over has been costly to follow because he seems to have found his home in the No 2 box.
Trained by the father and son combination of Mike and Adam Azzie, this four-year-old gelding has been sparingly raced. The son of Twice Over has run just seven times for one win and four second placings. In fact, his last three runs have seen him returning to the runners-up box but in every case, no matter over which distance he raced, he was beaten less than a length.
Breeze Over finished unplaced on debut but was gelded after that and when he returned to action he was fitted with blinkers.
He then finished second over 1600m, followed by a win over 1800m but then ran unplaced in his post-maiden outing.
His next three runs were over 2000m, 2400m and 3000m respectively. In each case Breeze Over was not only increasing in distance but also in class and was only beaten 0.80 lengths, 0.90 lengths and 0.30 lengths in each race.
On Saturday at Turffontein on the Standside track, Breeze Over drops in both distance and class when he lines up in Race 4, a MR 81 Handicap over 2400m, and this looks the perfect opportunity for him to find his back into the winner’s enclosure.
For the first time he has been paired with jockey Gavin Lerena who has started the new season in prolific form. At the time of writing, he had ridden 20 horses so far this season, which began on 1 August, and has reeled off seven victories for a win percentage of 35.
Interestingly, the blinkers have been removed and clearly both trainers and jockeys now feel Breeze Over can manage without them.
Once one looks past him this race is wide open.
One very interesting runner is Out Of Your League who as a three-year-old won the Grade 1 SA Derby over 2450m at Turffontein. He went on to win two more races – over 2400m and 2850m – and then contested the country’s premier stayers’ race, the Gold Cup over 3200m at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
He again performed well to finish third behind Nebraas after which he was given a merit rating of 108. However, he then lost his form and for the past two years has been struggling.
Now seven years old, this Fabian Habib-trained gelding has been unable to regain his best form and when he lines up in this event, he will run off a merit rating of 80. However, he will be coming off the back of his best race in years last time when he finished five lengths behind American Grayson over 3000m in his first run back from a short break.
If he can build on that performance Out Of Your League must have some sort of chance under Durban-based jockey Antandiwe Mgudlwa who takes the ride for the first time.
Craig Zackey will be aboard Afraad and this Stephen Moffatt-trained runner goes very well for him. He has ridden the son of Dynasty five times for one win, three seconds and a third and could once again guide this seven-year-old into the money.
Clive Robinson
