BRACE yourselves for yet another nail-biting finish in a feature race at the Fairview racetrack in Greenbushes!
After two thrilling feature races at last week’s meeting, it seems guaranteed that this Friday’s main event will turn into another exciting and close finish.
The R175 000 Lakeside Handicap over the tricky and challenging distance of 2400m tops the bill on Friday.
It is a strong and competitive race where you need a fit horse when speed and stamina are required to win.
Some top long-distance horses have won this event in the past but a little bit of speed in the tank is a huge benefit.
You also need a jockey who is wide awake and ready to make the right moves at the right time.
That was certainly the case last week when the crowd was treated to breathtaking finishes in both features – the R175 000 Fairview Mile and the R175 000 Fairview Merchants.
Sequoia won the Mile with Chase Maujean in the saddle, beating Cherry Ano and his jockey, Craig Zackey, by a whisker.
In the Merchants, it was Maujean who had to settle for second place. It looked as though he had the race in the bag, leading with Khaya’s Hope, going for home.
Evies First and his pilot, Yuzae Ramzan, had other ideas and ran on strongly to pass Khaya’s Hope just before the winning post.
Although the big stables of trainers, Alan Greeff and Gavin Smith, are dominating the Fairview season once again; it was two of the smaller yards which won both these feature races.
Sequoia is trained by Tara Laing and Evies First by Juan Nel. Needless to say, both trainers were ecstatic about the victories.
With Sequoia it was a case of a plan that came together. Laing and her right-hand man, Gavin Venter, had this race in mind for Sequoia for some time.
Nel did a brilliant job with the seven-year-old gelding to make it back-to-back victories.
It is a huge battle to fill the top log positions behind Greeff and Smith but Sequoia’s win bettered the positions of Laing and Maujean significantly.
Laing moved up to fourth position on the trainers’ log for the most winners at Fairview this season, just one more than Zietsman Oosthuizen and Sharon Kotzen.
Maujean is in the third spot on the jockeys’ log, behind Richard Fourie and Zackey, with a few challengers right on his heels.
There was an eye-catching performance by the Smith-trained Instaworthy at the prestigious Met meeting this past Saturday in Cape Town.
The two-year-old filly ran a beautiful race to take third place in the first race of the day, the Summer Juvenile Stakes.
Joy and Peace, trained by Greeff, also earned a credible fifth place in the Summer Fling Stakes for fillies and mares over 2000m.
