The Fairview stables can’t wait for the Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Poly Challenge to start.
The hard work has been done to prepare the horses for the upcoming three legs of the Challenge, and the big question now is which stable will get the first shot in.
On Friday, the Challenge starts with the R175,000 first leg over 1,200 metres. It will be the seventh of the eight races at the meeting at the Greenbushes venue.
The second leg will be run on 26 September over 1,400m. The third and final leg is on 17 October over 1,600m.
The Cape Town horse, King Regent, trained by Glen Kotzen, showed everyone how it should be done last season. He became the first horse to win all three legs of the Challenge to secure a bonus of R250,000 for his connections.
This feat motivated the Fairview trainers even more to go back to the drawing board and find a horse to win that bonus this season.
There is also the consolation bonus of R50,000 to aim for if one horse doesn’t win all the legs.
That will go to the best-performing horse over the three legs. Such a horse must participate in all three legs and win at least one of them to qualify for the consolation bonus.
For this bonus, a points system will be in place for the first six finishers. The winner gets 10 points.
The Challenge has become very popular since it was introduced in 2016. The poly surface was installed in 2013 after the Arlington track closed down to give Fairview a grass and poly surface. The Polytrack was then upgraded in 2022.
This past Friday, the action was on the turf track when the first feature races of the new season took place.
In both races, the fancied runners were beaten, which might indicate that it is going to be very competitive in the big Fairview races this season.
Champion trainer Alan Greeff has an impressive record in the Memorial Mile, and he again came out on top. He won the race with Zinovi, which was ridden by Luyolo Mxothwa.
The Cape Town horse, King Regent, trained by Glen Kotzen, showed everyone how it should be done last season. He became the first horse to win all three legs of the Challenge to secure a bonus of R250,000 for his connections.
This feat motivated the Fairview trainers even more to go back to the drawing board and find a horse to win that bonus this season.
There is also the consolation bonus of R50,000 to aim for if one horse doesn’t win all the legs.
That will go to the best-performing horse over the three legs. Such a horse must participate in all three legs and win at least one of them to qualify for the consolation bonus.
For this bonus, a points system w
Zinovi beat the two favourites in the race, the Cape Town visitor, Royal Aussie, and the other Greeff horse, My Best Shot.
Mxothwa rode four winners on the day.
He certainly started the East Cape season in sensational fashion with eight winners already behind his name.
The Tara Laing stable was delighted with the victory of Epikleros in the Jockey Club Stakes, a race for fillies and mares over 2,000m.
Chase Maujean rode a good race, coming from the last position to seal the deal.
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