NELSON Mandela Bay will play a huge role at the end of the month in one of South Africa’s biggest horse racing weekends.
The Fairview meeting on January 28 has been tasked to get the weekend off to a great start and get racing fans hyped up for the next day’s WSB Cape Town Met at Kenilworth.
The Cape Town meeting is one of the biggest of the year and at this stage it looks like three Fairview horses will be running in some of the races on the big day. The Met weekend is usually just after payday for most and is a big one for punters. Racing authorities want to see big pools and that is why it is important for them that the Fairview meeting should set the tone.
A reshuffling of some of the big Fairview races was done to make it a meeting filled with quality, which will attract the fans. This means that the Merchants, Mile, Lakeside Handicap and the Breeders Guineas Plate will all form part of the meeting on the 28th.
There have been some strong entries for the Fairview meeting from the Cape Town stables of Justin Snaith, Glen Kotzen and Vaughan Marshall. This past Friday at Fairview it was Cape Town conditioner, Candice Bass-Robinson, who had a very successful visit and you can be sure that Snaith, Kotzen and Marshall will want to follow up on that on the 28th.
The Gavin Smith stable saddled three winners this past Friday. He is leading the race for the trainers’ title with 65 for the season, three more than defending champion, Alan Greeff.
Before the exciting meeting on the 28th, there will also be eight races as usual this Friday at Fairview. The Sophomore Plate for three-year-olds and a Pinnacle Stakes will be the highlights. This meeting will be on the turf track and not the poly. The action returned to the turf for the first time in a while last Friday and as was predicted it was no easy day for the punters.
There were some handsome pay-outs though and very exciting racing and this Friday it will be more of the same at Fairview. Fully vaccinated spectators are welcome but requested to confirm their attendance beforehand.
