MONDAY 25th - THURSDAY 28th JANUARY 2016
No. 2220 ISSN 1023 / 6996
2015 Met winner Futura (Bernard Fayd’herbe) stretches beautifully at the end of his workout
FLAMINGO PARK 12:20pm (Monday) p.3
FAIRVIEW POLY 1:15pm (Tuesday) p.11 TURFFONTEIN NIGHT 5:55pm (Tuesday) p.18
GREYVILLE MIXED 1:10pm (Wednesday) p.28 VAAL
CHASE LIEBENBERG
12:15pm (Thursday) p.36
R2,5 million
Gr1 J&B Met Ken Sat 30 J an Final Field in
J&B Met Countdown
T
side
L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate winner and popular J&B Met favourite Legal Eagle took his next small steps to a giant leap into South African horseracing history, when he put up a superb gallop and drew perfectly at stall-gate 3 for the big race at Kenilworth on Saturday 30 January.
he official Met public gallops and draw ceremony was held in balmy summer weather conditions at the Southern Suburbs venue last Thursday morning, with thirteen of the fifteen runners being put through their paces.
No Show
The two runners who made no show were Gauteng based Mac De Lago, who will only arrive in the Cape 48 hours prior to the race, and the Geoff Woodrufftrained Deo Juvente, who is a doubtful starter following a freak accident. In a dreadful
twist of bad luck, the Sansui Summer Cup runner-up was rolling in the sand in a work ring at Milnerton, when picking up a cut from a piece of glass, that had been exposed near the surface, from the high winds. He was treated immediately but it apparently opened again, and given the recovery periods
applicable to the antibiotics and medication that is required for the superficial cut, he is on the doubtful list. His absence would reduce the field to fourteen – a disappointing outcome for the racing operator and for many punters. And the mathematics must have an adverse impact on betting turnovers. Add to that the switch of the Gr1 Investec Cape Derby and the Gr1 Klawervlei Majorca Stakes from the Met programme to the Investec Day Of Dreams – and we are guaranteed to see a detrimental effect on the big day turnovers.
Unconvincing
Overall the gallops would have done little to change betting support patterns, although the two well fancied runners Legal Eagle and Futura, stretched nicely and showed their well-being. In the absence of any genuine pressure on the gallopers, and no times being taken, it is little more than a pre-event PR exercise in any event – and it is well known that it is little more than an inconvenience than anything else for many of the trainers, in the crucial build-up phase to raceday.
All of the more fancied runners drew decently, with Geoff Woodruff ’s Sansui Summer Cup winner Master Sabina the only ‘casualty’ with a 14 gate. The son of Jet Master has to be treated with kid gloves with an old tendon injury always in the back of his trainer’s mind. Cont. p.2
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