Three speedsters set for intriguing run at Turffontein

Category: Sport

Date Added: 12 March 2010

DAVID MOLLETT

Racing Editor

IF YOU are a speed merchant fan, Turffontein racecourse is the place to be tonight. Three of the fastest horses in the land — Warm White Night, Private Jet and Mythical Flight — are set for an intriguing clash in the sixth race.

Warm White Night comes to the city track in great heart and many believe he is the horse to beat after his victory in the Cape Flying Championship at Kenilworth in January. That success took the Western Winter colt’s earnings to more than R1,5m, not far short of the R1,8m he cost as a yearling.

However, Warm White Night’s jockey, Anton Marcus, will not have forgotten that his mount went down, albeit narrowly, to Private Jet in last season’s Computaform Sprint.

Although Private Jet has been sidelined since that win, my Vaal spies inform me that the Argentinian-bred gelding delighted trainer Geoff Woodruff in a recent workout on the Vaal turf track.

If the four-year-old is not ring rusty after such a long absence from the track, there is every reason to think that the import can make it five wins from six starts.

Also in the line-up is Sean Tarry’s former champion, Mythical Flight, who is back in SA after competing in Grade 1 races in both Hong Kong and Singapore.

Tarry says he is happy with the way his talented charge has progressed in recent weeks, and it is worth remembering that the Jet Master gelding holds the course record of 54,96 seconds for tonight’s 1000m dash.

While South Country did not run badly when third behind Noble Heir in the recent Tommy Hotspur Handicap, Gary Alexander’s sprinter meets the leading contenders on level weights and would be better off if this race was a handicap. He can fill a minor berth if either Private Jet or Mythical Flight are found wanting in the closing stages.

Anton Marcus teams up with Sean Tarry in one of the earlier races when Trip Master, the R650000 son of Jet Master, takes on 13 rivals in the first leg of the Pick 6.

Trip Master is proving costly to follow as he has been a beaten favourite in each of his three appearances, but he is worth another chance and is selected to score from Moon World and George Cross.

Another Tarry inmate, Corpes Da Elite, will be on a retrieving mission when the daughter of Mogok contests the final leg of the jackpot. The three-year-old finished last on her most recent outing when not striding out, so it looks significant that Piere Strydom has switched to Barend Botes’s filly, Delightful Diva.

The opposition again includes Golden Secret, though it is strange that Anton Marcus, who won on Michael Azzie’s filly last time out and is without a ride for this race, has not been engaged again.

Others with claims in this 1000m sprint include recent maiden winner Lilac Lace, while there should be more to come from Erico Verdonese’s lightly raced four-year-old, Madeira’s Pride.

Gavin Lerena is riding at the top of his game and is sure to fancy his chances of capturing the final race on the card on Brett Webber’s three-year-old, Rifleman. The son of Captain Al hinted a second win was close at hand when second behind Autumn Wizard at the Vaal.

The runners Lerena will have to look out for are Thunderball and his own stablemate, All Right. The Webber coupling could represent a banker for punters in the Pick 6.

Source: Business Day