The time has arrived to step up the pace at the Fairview racetrack in Greenbushes.
We saw some exciting and competitive racing at recent meetings, but the last race categorised as a Listed Event was the Lady’s Bracelet early in January.
Fairview followers can now look forward to three Listed Races over the coming two Fridays.
Two of these races, the Lady’s Pendant and the Ibhayi Stakes, will be part of this Friday’s meeting on the Turf surface.
The R150 000 Lady’s Pendant is a race over 1 200m for the fillies and mares.
If you take a look at former winners of this race, the likes of Star Burst Galaxy, Clear Sailing, and Yoshie, it is clear it takes a good sort to win.
It is the three-year-old horses which will contest the R175 000 Ibhayi Stakes over 1 400m.
This is always a strong race, and some of the Eastern Cape biggest stars of recent times, like Blaze of Fire, Global Drummer, and Khaya’s Hope are on the list of former winners.
The Ibhayi Stakes are also the start of the East Cape Sophomore Challenge.
The other two races in the challenge are the Guineas over 1 600m, and the Derby over 2 400m.
It is unlikely that one horse will win all three races to secure a bonus for the connections, but stranger things have happened.
Then there is also the Breeders’ Guineas to look forward to on March 1. This is a race for the three-year-old fillies, over 1 600m.
Racing fans countrywide have become used to the fact that the big weekends start with a quality Fairview meeting, and this is again the case.
Punters will be looking to strike some winning bets to attack Saturday’s meeting in Cape Town, which looks very attractive. The Cape Derby is the main race.
Last Friday was a meeting filled with close finishes, and it produced a mixture of results with favourites winning, but also a few big upsets.
It was good to see some of the smaller stables get into the winners’ box. Trainers Tara Laing, Duncan McKenzie, and Jurgen van Heerden enjoyed their respective victories.
It was a special day for Van Heerden. At the same time as he was leading Africa’s Rock into the winners’ enclosure at Fairview, his son, Joshua, was acknowledging the applause in Pietermaritzburg where he scored a brilliant century in a first-class cricket match, playing for the Titans against the Tuskers.
There was also a Poly meeting which took place last Tuesday, and the highlight was the victory of Cruise Control in a Pinnacle Stakes.
The Gavin Smith Racing Stables have done a wonderful job with this sprinter that has now won nine races from 15 starts. He is unbeaten on the Poly surface – three from three.
