World Sports Betting Cape Fillies

Guineas (Group 1)

BRETT Crawford and his son James celebrated their new training partnership on their first day with runners and in quite some style, by taking last Saturday’s World Sports Betting Cape Fillies Guineas with Fatal Flaw.

The Kenilworth Grade 1 was also a major triumph for 58-year-old veteran Piere Strydom, who made pretty well all the running on the 4/1 favourite, who is by New Predator out of a Rock Of Gibraltar mare and cost only R210,000 (€11,170) at the National Yearling Sale.

“She had never run here before, or even raced around a left-hand turn, but she pricked her ears and was totally relaxed early,” related the six-times champion, who had a few words for those who had the temerity to say it was high time he hung up his boots.

“People’s thinking surprises me sometimes,” he said. “There are so many naysayers and I don’t know why - my percentages are among the highest in the country. Anyway, I am still getting these top rides, so how could I chuck it in?”

Crawford (with the help of his son) has taken a leaf out of the human athletics book by training some of his best horses at 6,000 feet Turffontein and running them at near-sea level Cape Town and Durban.

Human athletes acquire more red blood cells training at high altitudes and this allows their blood to carry more oxygen. It is reckoned to enhance performance at lower altitudes by between one and 2% - and it is a practice that has seen Crawford win the last two runnings of the Durban July.

He said: “This filly has been in Johannesburg and James travelled her down on Monday. But credit also to Striker (Strydom), who is a master as well as a great judge of pace – and going through the 400m mark, he still hadn’t moved on her.”

Met favourite

The Crawfords also won the World Sports Betting Green Point Stakes with this year’s Durban July winner Oriental Charm, who led throughout in the hands of JP van der Merwe, and was promptly cut from 7/1 to 9/4 favourite for the Cape Met on January 25th.

However, Met favourite Green With Envy was bitterly disappointing and trailed in seven lengths last.

The stipes ordered a veterinary examination, but all that was reported was “slow to recover”. The bookmakers showed no such reticence and promptly marked out the Dean Kannemeyer four-year-old to 9/2 for Cape Town’s most famous race.

Today it’s the turn of the colts in the Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas and Mike de Kock sends Heathers Boy down from Johannesburg in a bid to take the prize. But the home team is strong with Justin Snaith saddling three.

The booking of champion Richard Fourie for Eight On Eighteen is hugely significant but, if the official ratings are right, Vaughan Marshall’s One Stripe (Gavin Lerena) is the one they all have to beat. The veteran trainer is bidding for his sixth win in this classic, the first coming 38 years ago!