Three days to go to the big one, the Hollywoodbets Durban July on 6 July but there is a cracker of a racemeeting at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth on Wednesday.
Richard Fourie, who will be crowned Champion Jockey at the end of the season, and leading trainer Justin Snaith look to have some outstanding runners on the day. Flashy three-year-old Future Variety, who almost deposed Thunderstruck, is back and could also be tough to beat in his heat.
Future Variety looked a bit unlucky not to get up and beat now retired star sprinter Thunderstruck in the Grade 2 1200m Khaya Stables Diadem Stakes in February as he was the lone horse on the outside from the deepest stall and had no cover in what was a humdinger of a race.
He has run three seconds in a row since the start of the year and must have a win to come, especially as he will have matured.
In Race 7, a Cape A Stakes run over 1100m, he is not best weighted, racing off a rating of 118. But he is headed for bigger things and having been beaten a short head by Thunderstruck who is rated 128, he should get there.
The horse he will have to beat is Questioning with a rating of 122, and while the latter has strong credentials one can’t help but believe he could need 1400m to be at his best.
Questioning’s most eye-catching performance was when he captured the Cape Classic over 1400m, sauntering in by 1.75 lengths beating and subsequent Grade 1 Cape Guineas winner Snow Pilot.
Future Variety could be the better sprinter and rates the value proposition even if racing after a break.
Snaith could start the day with a winner. Race 1 has cut down to a small field of seven runners and his charge, Rafa Bay, looks the livewire. The two-year-old Rafeef gelding showed little in his first two starts, but in his first run after gelding when also fitted with blinkers, he ran much faster fractions.
He has room for good improvement and could find himself in front in a weak field and get his confidence boosted.
Favourite backers could double up in Race 2 which is a Maiden Juvenile Plate for fillies over 1400m. Pentolina, with Fourie up, has been most unlucky not to have won by now but looks to be in the right race. She travelled well in her last start, but the doors closed for her at the wrong times, and she had to settle for second.
Fourie was disappointed things didn’t work out but will be champing at the bit to set the record straight.
Two horses to include in Swingers, Exactas and Trifectas are White Waters, who was not far off Pentolina and has a better draw this time, and regally bred Bela Vista, who Fourie rode last time but has drawn badly. She should appreciate the distance.
Snaith and Fourie team up with Landoftherisingsun (Race 5) and Charlotte Bronte (Race 6). The former is a tall rangy son of Danon Platina and produced a surging finish when only just beaten by an older horse with more experience.
For a juvenile to jump from the widest gate in fast going and get that close in his first run around the turn iss impressive.
He rates the banker and best bet on the day.
Charlotte Bronte, unlike her illustrious half-brother Charles Dickens, has not figured out how to win yet but has run some decent races. Fourie got her into a decent position last time and could be the one to entice a winning run out of her in this heat.
Clive Robinson
