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The remarkable Talktothestars can make it third time lucky by gaining his revenge on Turffontein rival Trip To Heaven in the R400,000 Grade 2 Khaya Stables Diadem Stakes (1200m) at Kenilworth on Saturday.
Piere Strydom’s mount races barefoot but that didn’t stop him giving weight all round in the Tsogo Sun Sprint – when Red Ray, Gulf Storm, Captain Alfredo and Exelero – were among those behind. However on his two most recent starts he has been beaten by Trip To Heaven who opened 7-2 favourite with World Sports Betting.
“Those last two runs were a disaster,” says Coenie de Beer who brought the horse down last week and settled him into the box at Harold Crawford’s yard that he occupied when he came for last year’s Cape Flying Championship. On that occasion he did wear shoes but managed only fifth.
“It didn’t plan out for him,” De Beer recalls. “They came to the outside and he was bumped although he flew the final 300m.”
Trip To Heaven’s Achilles heel is his tendency to lose ground at the start – two lengths in each of his last two races and four in the Mercury Sprint before that. However on his most recent outing he quickly recovered the ground and had a trouble-free run thereafter whereas Talktothestars was squeezed out when making his move and, by the time he got going again, it was all too late. He is 1.5kg better and is a big price at 7-1.
Nine of the 13 runners are in the Cape Flying, notably Gulf Storm and 4-1 second favourite Red Ray who is running for the first time since landing the Mercury Sprint in July and who has proved his ability to run well when fresh.
“We haven’t quite the facilities that we do in Durban to sharpen him up hills etc,” says Joey Ramsden. “But he is doing well and he looks a million dollars. He is pretty ready.”
Gulf Storm (7-1) won last year’s Betting World-sponsored Grade 1 and his disappointing run in the Southeaster on Christmas Eve is best forgiven and forgotten. Apart from anything else he was giving weight all round.
“He didn’t get much luck in running that day even though he was only beaten just over three lengths but he is well-weighted here,” says Brett Crawford whose other runner Search Party is on a hat-trick but looks short enough at 9-2. “It’s a big task for him but he has done nothing wrong in his last two and he has room for improvement in him.”
Tevez (7-1) seldom runs a bad race and Aldo Domeyer’s confidence is sky-high after last Wednesday’s incredible six-timer. He is the oldest horse in the field but he should go close.
“It’s all about the pace with him,” says Candice Bass-Robinson whose father won three of the last five runnings. “They didn’t go hard when he won the Southeaster – he likes it faster – but he sat closer than he normally does.”
It’s hard to give any of the others a real chance and you have to go back to Thunder Key (33-1) in 2009 to find the winner starting longer than 15-2.