It is Champions Day at Turffontein on Saturday 29 April, the fifth and final leg of the World Sports Betting Championships season, and there will be almost R5 million in stake money up for grabs.
There are seven Graded feature races on the day, headed up by two Gr1 events, the R2-million Premier’s Champions Challenge over 2000m and the R1-million Jonsson Workwear Computaform Sprint over 1000m.
CHAMPIONS CHALLENGE (Grade 1)
| 0 | Aragosta | Mike de Kock | 116 | |
| 0 | Billy Bowlegs | Alec Laird | 114 | |
| 0 | Divine Odyssey | J A Janse van Vuuren | 109 | |
| 0 | Golden Ducat | Mike de Kock | 120 | |
| 0 | Litigation | Sean Tarry | 113 | |
| 0 | Nebraas | Sean Tarry | 117 | |
| 0 | Puerto Manzano (ARG) | J A Janse van Vuuren | 123 | |
| 0 | Rain In Holland | Sean Tarry | 120 | |
| 0 | Red Saxon | Joe Soma | 116 | |
| 0 | Rule By Force | Joe Soma | 108 | |
| 0 | Second Base | Robyn Klaasen | 104 | |
| 0 | Zeus | Fabian Habib | 104 | |
| (12) | ||||
Also on the card are the Gr2 SA Nursery and SA Fillies Nursery for two-year-olds, both over 1160m, the Gr2 Gerald Rosenberg Stakes over 2000m for fillies and mares, the Gr2 Camellia Stakes for fillies and mares over 1160m and the Gr3 Gold Bowl over 3200m.
Speed demon and defending Computaform Sprint champion Master Archie (Pic – JC Photos)
COMPUTAFORM SPRINT (Grade 1)
| 2 | Bartholdi | M G Azzie/A A Azzie | 119 | |
| 18 | Big Burn | Sean Tarry | 115 | |
| 15 | Bon Vivant | J A Janse van Vuuren | 112 | |
| 8 | Cruise Control | Gavin Smith | 114 | |
| 4 | Danilo Danilovitch | Paul Matchett | 103 | |
| 14 | Far Away Winter | M G Azzie/A A Azzie | 102 | |
| 9 | Faustino | Gareth van Zyl | 98 | |
| 13 | Full Velocity | Sean Tarry | 112 | |
| 12 | Gobsmacked | J A Janse van Vuuren | 113 | |
| 1 | Isivunguvungu | Peter Muscutt | 119 | |
| 10 | Karangetang | J A Janse van Vuuren | 110 | |
| 6 | Master Archie | Tony Peter | 128 | |
| 3 | Mk’s Pride | Robbie Sage | 122 | |
| 17 | Princess Calla | Sean Tarry | 127 | |
| 11 | Rollwiththepunches | Roy Magner | 112 | |
| 16 | Sheela | M G Azzie/A A Azzie | 117 | |
| 5 | Taikonaut | Roy Magner | 111 | |
| 7 | William Robertson | Corne Spies | 125 | |
| (18) | ||||
There also one of those special events where the jockeys and work riders will square up in a Challenge Maiden Plate over 1160m.
There are 12 runners entered for the Premier’s Champions Challenge and it includes two three-year-olds in Gr1 World Sports Betting SA Derby runner-up Billy Bowlegs, trained by Alec Laird, and Joe Soma-trained Rule By Force.
Aragosta – entered for the Champions Challenge (Pic – Candiese Lenferna)
Mike de Kock has entered two runners in 2022 SA Derby champion Aragosta, and two-time Gr1 winner Golden Ducat.
SA NURSERY (Grade 2)
| 4 | Amber Rock | M G Azzie/A A Azzie | 0 | |
| 8 | Cullinan Blue | Brett Crawford | 0 | |
| 15 | Fire ‘N Flames | Kobus Roux | 0 | |
| 1 | Gimmeanotherchance | Mike de Kock | 0 | |
| 11 | Guy Gibson | Roy Magner | 0 | |
| 3 | Halberdier | Billy Ruiters | 0 | |
| 10 | Imperial Eagle | Kobus Roux | 0 | |
| 12 | Jerusalema Rain | Ashley Fortune | 0 | |
| 13 | Leaving Las Vegas | Tony Peter | 0 | |
| 6 | Lucky Lad | Sean Tarry | 0 | |
| 14 | Prince Of Kildare | Billy Ruiters | 0 | |
| 5 | Pure Predator | Fanie Bronkhorst | 0 | |
| 9 | Rani Of Kittur | Roy Magner | 0 | |
| 2 | Ripple Effect | Ashley Fortune | 0 | |
| 7 | Sandringham Summit | David Nieuwenhuizen | 0 | |
| (15) | ||||
Soma also has nominated last year’s WSB SA Classic champion Red Saxon while Johan Janse van Vuuren has WSB Summer Cup winner Puerto Manzano and Divine Odyssey among the entries.
Sean Tarry has three nominations, including last year’s Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara champion Rain In Holland who bounced back to her best last time to win the Grade 2 Colorado King Stakes, always seen as the forerunner to the Champions Challenge.
Tarry also has entered Litigation and Nebraas, but the latter has also been nominated to run in the Gold Bowl.
SA FILLIES NURSERY (Grade 2)
| 7 | Amber Rock | M G Azzie/A A Azzie | 0 | |
| 11 | American Graffiti | Sean Tarry | 0 | |
| 2 | Cullinan Blue | Brett Crawford | 0 | |
| 3 | Granchaco | Corrie Lensley | 0 | |
| 1 | Heirloom | Robyn Klaasen | 0 | |
| 10 | Leaving Las Vegas | Tony Peter | 0 | |
| 13 | Miss Hannigan | Gareth van Zyl | 0 | |
| 14 | Mist In Scotland | Paul Matchett | 0 | |
| 4 | Mrs Geriatrix | Sean Tarry | 0 | |
| 12 | No Filter | David Nieuwenhuizen | 0 | |
| 9 | Phantom Express | Paul Matchett | 0 | |
| 8 | Rani Of Kittur | Roy Magner | 0 | |
| 17 | Red Hot Rose | Mike de Kock | 0 | |
| 6 | Ripple Effect | Ashley Fortune | 0 | |
| 5 | Sigrid Swing | Heinrich van der Westhuizen | 0 | |
| 16 | So Seductive | J A Janse van Vuuren | 0 | |
| 15 | Stormy Choice | David Nieuwenhuizen | 0 | |
| (17) | ||||
There are 18 entries for the Jonsson Workwear Computaform Sprint, headed up by last year’s winner Master Archie. Now trained by Tony Peter, the Rafeef colt could not have been more impressive when winning his warm-up start last time, easily beating Bartholdi by two lengths.The runner-up has also been nominated and he will be 2kg worse off this time.
Supplementary Entries close at 09h00 on Friday with declarations by 11h00 on Monday.
