CAPTAIN America scored a decisive win in the Rising Sun Gold Challenge over a mile at Greyville last Saturday and his price for the Vodacom Durban July a fortnight today was promptly slashed from 33/1 to 14/1.

On Monday morning trainer Brett Crawford was talking about the gelding’s chances of getting the trip – “I don’t think it’s out of his reach. I’ve had horses before who never saw out a proper 11 furlongs yet they did well in the July” – but early that evening he took the surprise decision to scratch the horse.

“The handicappers have given him two points for his Gold Challenge win and that means a further kilo that he would have to give away to the rest of the field,” he explained. “With his distance limitations, and after discussions with the owners, we decided that it was in the best interests of the horse to wait for the Champions Cup on July 29th.

“That is basically a weight-for-age race so he won’t be giving away heaps of weight and we felt we should scratch him early so that the public is aware of the situation.”

The six-year-old is owned by Diane Nagle in partnership with the Gurneys of Ballymore Eustace and the mother of former rugby international Lance Sherrell who was on hand to lead the horse in.

The Captain Al gelding led over a furlong out last Saturday to beat Trip To Heaven by a length and a half, with the bitterly disappointing favourite Marinaresco finishing with only four of the 15-strong field behind him.

“Captain America is a big horse who needs a bit of time to get going but when I shook him up he gave me a really good kick and when he gets to the front he is a hard horse to catch,” said rider Corne Orffer.

This was Captain America’s ninth win from 28 starts. He cost R400, 000 (€27,800) as a yearling and his earnings are now close to R5 million.

Crawford also trains the July favourite Edict Of Nantes and plans to take it easy with him in the build-up, partly because the horse has to take part in a public gallop at Greyville next Thursday. “He is racing fit so we just need to keep him ticking over and keep him happy.”

Just Sensual, winner of the Cape Fillies Guineas at Kenilworth in December, is to go for the mile Grade 1 Garden Province on July day after justifying favouritism in the Tibouchina Stakes over a furlong less.

The Dynasty filly had beaten all except Carry On Alice in the South African Fillies Sprint on her previous start and trainer Joey Ramsden is convinced that she would prove herself even more versatile if owner Markus Jooste and racing manager Derek Brugman gave him the scope.

“I think a mile is her best trip,” he said. “But I wouldn’t have minded running her in a 10-furlong the other day. If I had, though, Derek would have had me castrated!”

The long-awaited Cape Town rain finally arrived on Saturday, after almost eight months of near-drought, and it resulted in a Kenilworth farce. By the time half of the 10 races had been run many of the jockeys felt it was unsafe to continue. Horses’ hooves were making holes in the ground and these were filling with rain, making the surface inconsistent, and they reckoned the much-reduced visibility was adding to the lack of safety.

Most trainers, though, wanted to continue. Acting senior stipe Nick Shearer, a former jockey, ruled that the show should go on.

When the senior jockeys said they weren’t riding anymore, another stipe helped the apprentice academy representative to book the lesser lights. Several gladly accepted only to re-emerge from the jockeys’ room saying they had changed their minds. They were met with cries of “intimidation” from some of the infuriated trainers but Shearer felt he had no choice but to abandon the rest of the card.

PIET BOTHA

However, it was a red-letter day for Piet Botha who in 2010 was told that he would never ride again. He broke a rib in a bad fall and was laid low by supposedly permanent nerve damage. He dropped out of racing and started a successful coffee machine repair business.

But the bug never left him and in April, with the nerve damage seemingly cured by the rest, the 40-year-old resumed. He didn’t get many rides to begin with but on Saturday he booted home a 50/1 shot followed by a 66/1 chance two races later. He could hardly believe it, but the bookmakers were cheering.