Trainer Alan Greeff has never been shy to send his younger horses to tackle their elders in handicaps and he has two rising stars out to prove their worth at Fairview on Friday when they race on the Polytrack.
Both Back For More and Fairy Knight have lines of form that link with Eastern Cape Champion Two-Year-Old Colts and Geldings winner Questor and try their luck in handicaps.
Back For More was slowly away on debut and needed the experience when third behind Marshmallow back in March but just two weeks later she came out to beat Questor by 0.75 on the Fairview turf track.
Clearly something went amiss as she was missing from the Juvenile features last season and only came out for her third run on 28 August in a MR 70 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1200m on the Polytrack Handicap.
The Global View filly was caught out of her ground early and finished well to finish fourth, only beaten 1.25 lengths.
There has been no addition to her merit rating, and she was clearly in need of that run, so will strip a lot fitter this time when she lines up in Race 5, a MR 66 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1300m.
Jockey Richard Fourie has ridden her in all three of her races and will be aboard once again this time.
There are two horses in the contest who ran in the same race as her on 28 August so we should get an indication how much she has improved for that run.
Iqembulabesifazane was a short head ahead of Back For More that day but picked up a one-point penalty which means she is 0.5kg worse off with Back For More. Greeff’s filly is also better drawn than the Gavin Smith-trained runner.
Nkalanzinzi could be the surprise package of the race. This Juan Nel-trained mare has only the one win to show for her 22 starts but was only a length behind Back For More that day and is 1kg better off.
She only tired late that day and a more patient ride this time could pay dividends.
Fairy Knight tries 1600m for the first time in Race 4, a MR 80 Handicap and he gives the impression this could be exactly what he is looking for.
The Global View has proved just as good on the Polytrack as on the turf and has won two of his five starts.
His recent 0.50-length defeat by Questor over 1400m on the turf at Fairview 1400m suggests he is very good.
He takes on a lot of hard-knocking types and will know he has been in a race, but once again Fourie has been aboard him in all of his runs and will know when to push his buttons.
It is rare these days for Smith to draw a blank at a meeting and he has many runners on this card with winning chances, but he might be all in on his runners in the last race.
Recent recruit from the Western Cape Charlie Malone looks the right one. The Querari gelding once had a merit rating as high as 82 but he now sits on 62. He has run well twice recently on the turf at Durbanville off this rating and a switch to the Polytrack could do the trick for him.
Clive Robinson
