Evergreen Uncle Tommy – always thereabouts
Weiho Marwing’s scrupulously honest 7yo Kahal gelding Uncle Tommy has his 54th run and goes for what could be a lucky 13th win when he bids for a double in Tuesday’s R200 000 Listed Highveld Sand Challenge. It won’t be a simple task with Corne Spies’ all conquering recent Northern Cape Stayers Handicap winner All The Bids lurking in the shadows.
The 3yo All The Bids – a rising star of the sand racing scene- was slapped with a 114 merit rating after his emphatic and beautifully facile victory last Monday in Kimberley, and no, his trainer is not smiling.
Competitor
We can’t leave All The Bids out of calculations
But Spies is a tough competitor and he says he is ready to take on the older horses once again – and from a wide draw, just to add the extra poke in the other eye.
“This is obviously tougher opposition than we met in Kimberley. But my boy is fit and, while the mile is probably on the short side, they underestimate us at their peril,” he said.
The conditions of the race dictate that the runners are weighted in terms of their nett ratings in the designated bands. But sadly for All The Bids, his rating is already at jet-plane cruising altitude and he carries 60kg – even with his nett!
Ironically, he couldn’t get a run in next Saturday’s SA Derby as his turf rating is close to half of his sand status. But the yard is keen to get a run there and see how he goes on turf over the 2450m trip – that is if an opportunity arises and one of the carded runners fall by the wayside.
Serious Force
Just as All The Bids has it all to do, last year’s winner Uncle Tommy looks an exciting possibility off his weight.
The gelding returns from a stint in KZN, where he did well on the Greyville polytrack, but pulled up lame after the Gr3 Kings Cup on turf.
The 2014 Emerald Cup runner-up is a serious force on this surface and beat current Dubai-based Pylon in the Highveld Sand Challenge last year.
Taptap Makhatini finished fourth there but was 16,50 lengths off Uncle Tommy and meets him on the same terms.
The son of Albert Hall should again finish behind the Marwing runner. He also has his breathing issues but won his last race on the surface in style and Piere Strydom sticks with him.
De Kock Duo
Mike De Kock – decent coupling to consider
Mike De Kock’s imported 3yo coupling of Olympic Bolt and Masnoon rise in class but have the ability to trouble the top three.
This applies particularly to Olympic Bolt who has some cracking course and distance runs to his credit.
Uncle Tommy’s stablemate The Royal Rumba has not drawn favourably, but impressed with a course and distance win at his last jump, defeating the Spies’ Hawksworth.
That was his first try on the Vaal sand after relocating from Durban and was a substantial improvement on his turf form.
Late Arrival
Leon Erasmus – saddles the grey Stavinsky
Leon Erasmus’ grey Stavinsky is a solid sand campaigning 5yo who tends to run on late and may be crying out for the mile. He ran on well at his last start in an MR 102 over the 1200m behind Duty Dance
The Heather Adamson trained Amber Sail ran a course and distance third 2,75 lengths behind The Royal Rumba at his last start.
He now enjoys a 3kg swing with the Marwing runner, and while his form is not highly inspiring, he must have place prospects with his handy galloping weight.
Place Danger
Joey Soma’s Tip A Champion does not have wonderful recent form, but his course and distance third behind All The Bids in January suggests he could have a quartet squeak.
Tip A Champion ran a 2,25 length third there when receiving 5kgs from All The Bids, and if we rate the Spies runner with a chance, then with a full 10kgs advantage here, Tip A Champion could be thereabouts.
The Wallace Tolmay-trained Green Rock won two impressive 1200m sand races earlier, but appears to be battling to spark again and needs to show a bit more.
Two For Tommy
Uncle Tommy is a fit and capable sand campaigner and he looks nicely in to go on and register a second successive victory in this race.
Taptap Makhatini and the nicely weighted 3yo Olympic Bolt could challenge if things go their way.
Then, how do we leave All The Bids out of the equation? The game and genuinely talented son of Daring Bid could find the mile on the short side but continues to up his game and is fit and capable of running them ragged.
