Tipping The Scales. Dennis Drier’s quality 4yo Master Of My Fate could have the edge over his rivals
Two superb sons of wonder stallion Jet Master look set to dominate the R 400 000 Glorious Goodwood Gr2 Peninsula Handicap at Kenilworth on Saturday. They also happen to be the only visitors in a race traditionally won by a hometown stable.
Contrary to some opinion, the Peninsula Handicap is no great indicator race to J&B Met glory and in fact generally produces little in the way of inspiration on that front. The 2014 vintage however contains a few who may be looking to cement their claims to a berth in our big one, which is now just three weeks away.
Standout
The two standout runners are Dennis Drier’s rather exciting Master Of My Fate and Geoff Woodruff’s Master Sabina. Master Of My Fate has pulled a 13 draw which will not help him, but won the Gr2 Premier Trophy with plenty of style last time out. He beat Hill Fifty Four with ease, although his detractors are suggesting that he was at his top end and is best up to a mile.
The fact remains that he has won 5 of his 6 starts and appears to be getting better with each and every racecourse appearance. He has gone up 2,5kgs in the weights but looks set to cope with the test.
Top Master
Master Sabina obviously presents the biggest opposition for the Drier runner. Well drawn at 1, he looked a winner in the Gr1 Sansui Summer Cup before narrowly falling victim to his stablemate Yorker, who runs later in the Queen’s Plate. Master Sabina has won 4 of his 9 starts, and is another colt that is just getting better with racing. The duel between the two should be a fascinating one.
Over The Hill
Last year’s winner of this race, Hill Fifty Four, dictated matters and stayed on for second in the Premier Trophy. He is 1,5kgs better off with Master Of My Fate, but there is no question as to who was going the better in the final stages there. That said he did run a good second in the 2013 J&B Met, and has a fairly comfortable position on the log again this year.
Local Hopes
The local hopes Punta Arenas and Hot Ticket have their last chance of bringing themselves into contention on the top twenty of the J&B Met log. Both put in excellent finishing runs in the Premier Trophy, with Hot Ticket finishing a length in front of Punta Arenas.
Hot Ticket was nominated as a likely Met horse six months ago by his conservative trainer and shows all the signs of coming along in the right manner. He is 1,5kgs better off with Master Of My Fate .
Punta Arenas is all of 5,5kgs better off with Master Of My Fate for a 4,30 length beating. He ran from the widest draw in the Premier Trophy and was finishing like a rocket.
Bass Quartet
Mike Bass sends out a quartet of runners, headed by the recent Jet Master Stakes winner Ze Kaiser. He received all of 7kgs from Joey Ramsden’s good grey King Of Pain when winning there after a run of placed efforts.
Ze Kaiser looks very capable of improving further and looks a fair prospect at the weights in the hands of Bass first choice rider, Grant Van Niekerk. Brown Penny ran seventh in this race last year, and looks like he is battling to add to his win tally of 7.
The son of Fort Wood also fared worst of the six runners to come out of the Premier Trophy even at 4kgs better off with Master Of My Fate, looks unlikely to trouble the top two.
Gold Class
The Silvano gelding Laurie’s Gold is a very consistent 5yo who has won 4 of his 26 starts. Despite his promise, he has generally been restricted to handicaps and sheltered from feature exposure. He is a horse with a good turn of foot and runs off a handy 52kgs with Glen Hatt aboard.
The Trippi gelding Night Trip appears to be held by Ze Kaiser on his two length beating in the Jet Master Stakes at level weights. At his penultimate start, he finished just over a length behind the smart Roman Manner (good sixth in the Cape Guineas) and is knocking to win again.
Capable Sort
The Justin Snaith trained True Master is a multiple course and distance winner, and is a very capable fellow on his day. He comes in with a handy galloping weight, although not too well drawn. He ran a good third behind Paterfamilias in an MR 99 Handicap run over the Kenilworth 1800m last time, and should be reaching peak fitness.
Glen Puller’s Surging River gelding Awesome Power finished 4,25 lengths back in the Premier Trophy but could be held by the likes of Punta Arenas, who finished strongly and right on his heels. Darryl Hodgson’s Putney Flyer is more of a staying sort and he has failed to fire since his return from the KZN Champions Season last year. He looks unlikely to challenge here.
Down A Jet
The benefit of the draw in Master Sabina’s favour could be outweighed by the unknown of the rigours of travelling . Master Of My Fate is familiar with the track and is well settled in Cape Town. Then both Hot Ticket and the year older Punta Arenas are solid soldiers who are always keen for a scrap. They will swoop for the kill if either of the Jets misfire.
