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The R600 000 Grade 2 Emerald Cup on the sand at the Vaal racecourse is the start of Phumelela's Spring-Summer Feature Season. Billed as the richest race on sand, it has attracted a maximum field of 14 top class runners.
Photo by Gold Circle
Current favourite, The Mouseketeer landed his third win from four starts when holding off stablemate Across The Ice in the August Stakes(1200m) in his first attempt on the surface. The Sean Tarry runner will prefer the step up in distance and with the number two draw and 54kg on his back he could have the race at his mercy.
Tarry comments:”He's got all the boxes ticked. He's a hard knocker, a good horse in good form and he's got the draw. But we don't know how good Robbie Sage's horse Art Wish, is – he's got to be the horse to beat in this field.”
Art Wish loves the sand track and has reeled off three easy wins here from his last four starts. The Strike Smartly gelding, owned by the queen of South African racing, Mrs Oppenheimer, is on form and interestingly Gunter Wrogeman, who rode stable companion Iron Curtain to victory last year, has elected to ride Art Wish.
Champion trainer Mike de Kock sends out Burmese Cat and Storm Crossing. Son Matthew commented that both runners are very well and peaking at the right time. Burmese Cat likes the sand track and was having his first run for three months when fourth over this course and distance at the beginning of the month.
Storm Crossing has won seven times on the sand and has the services of long time jockey Tshwaro Appie. The Western Winter gelding finished four lengths off The Mouseketeer in the August Stakes, but was badly in need of a run and will strip much fitter come Saturday.
Tarry's other runner Across the Ice, drawn 14, is also likely to be contesting the finish. Tarry explained the turnaround in the horse's performance. “We revived this horse's career by changing tactics and dropping him out – and you need lots of luck in running coming from behind like that. Though I'd have preferred a seven or eight draw for him, I'm not overly concerned. It's much better than one or two would have been.”
The Mogok gelding, Sayadaw, carries the top weight and has clearly been aimed at this race. He finished second by the narrowest of margins over the course and distance last time out when running on strongly and if he brings his best game to the course, he will be hard to beat.
The dark horse in the race could be the reserve runner, Lochlorien. Mike Azzie's runner is lightly weighted and comes off a good run a week ago when finishing half a length behind Pierre Jourdan in third. He is a course and distance winner and could very well cause an upset if he gets a run.