It is time to pick up the pace at the Fairview Polytrack.
Racing fans will see some serious speed at the Greenbushes venue this coming Friday with the running of the R175 000 Glendore Sprint over 1 000m.
The poly surface will help the runners to clock up some very high speeds and this feature (race 7 of 8) will be the highlight of an action-packed meeting.
The five-year-old gelding Slim Jannie, trained by Gavin Smith, is one of the runners that won’t be hanging around. He will be defending his title in the Glendore Sprint.
This past Friday was a magnificent meeting for the Kelly Mitchley stable. Mitchley won three of the nine races, including the November Stakes over 1 400m.
The four-year-old filly, Passchendaele, showed the boys how it should be done. She went straight to the front under jockey, Sandile Khathi, and always looked like the winner.
This victory rounded off a golden hour for Mitchley who won three races in a row with Harold the Duke, See You In A Bit and then the day’s feature with Passchendaele.
In second place behind Passchendaele was the seven-year-old Bingwa who made his Fairview debut for the Smith yard.
Bingwa previously campaigned in Johannesburg where he won races in distinguished company.
He clearly still has lots to offer, and it is encouraging to see he has no problem with the poly surface.
Bingwa will be at his best over 1 600m and it should be really interesting to see what he can produce at his new racing home in the future.
Although the Mitchey stable was the star of the show at the last meeting, trainers, Alan Greeff and Zietsman Oosthuizen, also caught the eye by saddling a double apiece.
Oosthuizen must be particularly happy with the performances of his horses in recent times.
The big man has one of the smaller Fairview stables but has certainly been producing the goods by regularly finding the winners’ box over the last five meetings.
It is not only the local trainers who produced some magic at the Fairview meetings lately but also the local jockeys.
They are used to playing second fiddle to the top out-of-town jockeys but this past Friday was a different story.
The local jockeys won six of the nine races. Eldin Webber and Sandile Khathi were in great form and rode a double apiece.
Charles Ndlovu and Stallone Naidoo also picked up a win each and the locals will be keen to follow up at the next meeting.
Three top jockeys, Muzi Yeni, S’manga Khumalo and Luyolo Mxothwa, won’t be at Fairview for a while due to injuries and the locals will want to make good use of the opportunities coming their way.
