The chase is on for that fat bonus in the Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge!
All eyes will be on the Cape Town horse, King Regent, in the second leg of the challenge to be run on Friday, at the Fairview track in Greenbushes.
No horse has been able to win all three legs of the challenge, and a bonus of R250 000 for his connections, since the popular challenge was introduced in 2016.
King Regent, trained by Glen Kotzen, won the first leg over 1 200m in impressive fashion last month.
Dennis Schwarz was the winning jockey and will be in the saddle again to tackle 1 400m in the second leg.
The third and final leg is over 1 600m, the main event at the race meeting on October 18, but the Kotzen stable will know it is too soon to pop the champagne.
The challenge is ultra-competitive, and in Friday’s second leg King Regent will be up against talented individuals in the field of 11 runners.
He is not the only Cape Town visitor of which a big effort is expected.
Silver Falcon and Port Louis are not making the trip to Gqeberha to take a look at the scenery.
The locally trained horses will also be ready to fire. If King Regent misses the frame, the race for the consolation bonus of R50 000 will suddenly become open.
This bonus will go to the horse that performed the best over all three legs of the challenge if King Regent doesn’t win all of them.
The talented Khaya’s Hope and Luna Halo are in the field, and don’t write off the chances of Prince of Fire and Narcos.
Narcos was the winner of last year’s second leg when Prince of Fire was in second place. Prince of Fire was the consolation bonus winner last year.
Prince of Fire and Narcos are both trained by Kelly Mitchley, and this stable is in red-hot form!
Mitchey won three of the eight races at last Friday’s meeting, including the feature the Friendly City Stakes over 1 800m.
What a surprise victory it was!
Mount Anderson won the race two years ago, and the eight-year-old did it again in fine style.
The Cape Town visitor Pacaya was the strong favourite to win the race but could only manage fifth place.
What makes Mount Anderson’s win remarkable is that he very nearly didn’t take his place in the race. Mitchley revealed after the race that Mount Anderson was footsore and had mild colic leading up to the race.
The trainer said Mount Anderson has “a way of faking sickness”, but he was at his best in the race to win under a polished ride by local jockey Eldin Webber.
Friday’s meeting starts at 11:30. The feature is race eight of nine and will jump at 15:45.
Entry to all Fairview meetings is free. The action can also be followed live on the DStv channel 240.
