Turffontein hosts a nine-race card on the Inside track on Saturday and trainers Paul Matchett and Johan Janse van Vuuren look to have a stranglehold on the meeting. Both trainers are strongly represented throughout the meeting and their stables are likely to be responsible for the winners of five races on the day, with Van Vuuren holding a slight edge in three of those events.
In the riding department, jockeys Muzi Yeni and S’manga Khumalo are expected to share the spoils with two winners each.
Van Vuuren and Khumalo team up in Race 1 and should get the meeting off to a winning start with three-year-old filly Far Reaching whose form and experience will stand her in good stead in the opener over 1600m.
This daughter of Vercingetorix improved for the step up in trip to 1450m last time, her first outing beyond 1200m, when a fast-finishing second on the Vaal Classic track in her final juvenile appearance.
On that evidence, Far Reaching will have even more to offer going a mile for the first time so she should prove too good for her male opposition who also concede a 3kg sex allowance to Van Vuuren’s charge.
Matchett’s stable is good value for a TAB Double, beginning in Race 3 with Lancaster Bomber filly Tipperary who will appreciate reverting to 1450m. She ran her best race last season in her only course-and-distance outing, finishing second as a two-year-old in open company on 2 May. After two unsuccessful attempts over further (1600m and 1800m), a return to 1450m on the Inside track from gate No 1 could see Tipperary bounce back to form and repay her followers with a maiden victory.
Stablemate Kaleesh Cyborg made an eye-catching sprint debut last month, running on strongly once the penny had dropped to finish a close-up second over 1160m. This Global View gelding would have come on appreciably with the benefit of that experience and will improve for the step up to 1450m in Race 3, so it should pay to follow his progress and complete Matchett’s race-to-race double.
Van Vuuren-trained veteran Bingwa has registered six of his seven career wins over 1600m so the return to 1600m in Race 5 will suit the seven-year-old Pathfork gelding whose most recent success was achieved in his latest appearance on the Inside track over the same course and distance under Kabelo Matsunyane.
With all the ingredients for that winning recipe repeated, Bingwa is one of the better bets on the card and should provide his trainer with a second win on the day.
Chasing Happiness spearheads a three-pronged Van Vuuren attack in Race 7 over 1200m with Khumalo booked to ride the favourably treated four-year-old filly. This lightly raced daughter of Rafeef has a progressive profile and is unbeaten on the Inside track in two starts, including one over the course and distance.
She acquitted herself well in a stronger race over 1000m on the Standside track against males on 30 June, finishing third behind 107-rated Trompie, and makes her seasonal debut off an unchanged mark against fillies only.
Khumalo rides Chasing Happiness for the first time but that shouldn’t deter punters from having a punt on the nose.
Yeni will have to bide his time but is likely to strike late in the day, firstly aboard Candice Dawson-trained Player, who he rode to victory over 1700m on the Inside track three starts back and is reunited with in Race 8 over 1800m, and improving last-start winner Silver Parasol for Alec Laird in Race 9, also over 1800m.
Clive Robinson
