Looking forward to the Mercury sprint..

BASS STABLE

Trainer Mike Bass is the ultimate professional and has taken the defeat of Pocket Power in the Vodacom Durban July as one of those things that happen in racing and now looks forward to the other graded features his runners will contest in the remainder of Champions Season.



Next up for the stable is the R600 000, Grade 1 Mercury Sprint over 1 200m at Clairwood Racecourse where he runs his two top sprinters Gaultier and Blue Tiger and predicts they will be within a neck of one another wherever they finish.



They have each had two runs in KwaZulu-Natal , Gaultier having won the In Full Flight Handicap over 1 000m at Greyville before contesting the Golden Horse Casino Sprint at Scottsville.



Blue Tiger made his local debut in the Scottsville race and they finished third and fourth with Gaultier beating Blue Tiger by a neck.



Blue Tiger subsequently ran a fantastic race in the Gold Challenge where he made the running over the mile and stayed on to finish in the placings ahead of specialist miler Our Giant.



“There is very little between them,” remarked Bass who said even back home in the Western Cape they would finish within a neck of one another.



“They both needed their runs in the Golden Horse Casino Sprint and they have come on a lot since then. They will be a lot fitter on Sunday and I am expecting a good run from both of them.



“Blue Tiger will probably go further than the sprint and ran a super race in the Gold Challenge – beating Our Giant over a mile is pretty good.



“Gaultier looks exceptional and while there is very little to choose between them, if I had to pick one for Sunday I think I would go with Gaultier to beat Blue Tiger by a neck.



“But they are both very well and in this weight-for-age race they have both got good winning chances.”



DRIER STABLE


The winner of the Grade 2 Post Merchants at Greyville Racecourse, Sharks Bay, will be one of the more fancied runners in Sunday’s R600 000, Grade 1 Mercury Sprint at Clairwood Racecourse and trainer Dennis Drier is confident the Australian import will run a very big race.



The Mercury Sprint is a weight-for-age event over 1 200m and has drawn a competitive field of 14 runners. It is the final major race for sprinters in the racing season and the result could influence the judges in their selection of the Champion Sprinter category at the Equus Awards.



Drier has two runners in the race with the six-year-old Restructure gelding Archipeligo as back-up to the three-year-old Sharks Bay and both, according to Drier, will go into the race in top condition.



Sharks Bay ran a brilliant race in the Post Merchants to beat the top speedster Thunder Key by a neck after having to switch for a run in the closing stages. Having been half way back in the field going through the 400m mark he began his move forward towards the inside but found himself in a pocket.



Jockey Sean Cormack had to switch him for a run and with the finishing post looming up he drove the Canny Lad gelding forward to burst through very late and snatch victory from the classy Thunder Key who had previously run second to Earl Of Surrey in the Golden Horse Casino Sprint at Scottsville.



“I would have preferred it if it had been at Greyville but he is very well and I am hoping for a big run from him.”



Archipeligo’s last run was in the Golden Horse Casino Sprint where he hung throughout and finished midway back in the field. Before that he had made the running over 1 000m at Greyville and only been caught in the very last strides and beaten a head by top Cape sprinter Gaultier.



“He is getting to the end of his racing career and will probably have one more run. He is very well and I am hoping he runs a good race. Of the two, Sharks Bay is probably the better.





Centaur
The five-year-old Western Winter gelding Centaur could be back to his best when he lines up at the 1 200m mark for the R600 000, Grade 1 Mercury Sprint at Clairwood Racecourse on Sunday.



The runner-up to JJ The Jet Plane in the Golden Horse Casino Sprint last season, Centaur has had two runs since returning from a one-year break and has improved steadily in preparation for the country’s top weight-for-age sprint race.



“The Mercury Sprint is the race he has been aimed at since his return and he will strip a very much fitter horse on Sunday,” said assistant trainer in the Mike de Kock stable, John Buckler. “He badly needed his first run back in the Golden Horse Casino Sprint and he was still in need of a run in the Post Merchants.



“But he ran a much better race at Greyville and he is doing very well at home. He could be back to his best and we are expecting a very good run from him on Sunday.”



Centaur, who is out of the Northern Guest mare Dance Every Dance, has won five of his 13 starts and been placed in five others.



He ran an outstanding race in the Golden Horse Casino Sprint last season showing good pace throughout and finishing two lengths behind star sprinter JJ The Jet Plane that is now campaigning overseas.



“He injured his knee in that race and was off for a year. The injury has healed and he is back working very well at home,” Buckler said.



With Kevin Shea doing duty for the stable in England and local stable jockey Anthony Delpech set to ride Lightning Lecture for Gary Alexander, Centaur will be ridden by one of the country’s leading and most experienced riders, Johnny Geroudis.







Gill Simpkins

Public Relations Manager

Whitehead Stable




Don’t rule out the possibility of an upset in Sunday’s R600 000, Grade 1 Mercury Sprint at Clairwood Racecourse as outsiders have won this race in the past.



Runners like Good Thing, Wethreekings and Lightning Lecture are not without chances of finishing in the money and “Lady Luck” could just favour them in running for them to sneak victory.



Wendy Whitehead is one of the leading lady trainers in the country and she saddles the six-year-old Damascus Gate gelding Good Thing who finished just a length behind Sharks Bay in the Post Merchants. That was an excellent run from a wide Greyville draw and the gelding was running on well in the finish.



Wendy has no illusions about the task that faces her charge but believes he will run a big race.



“Obviously the weight-for-age conditions are against us but he ran a super race at Greyville from a wide draw and on Sunday we are drawn on the good side of the course.



“He is very well and his gallop on Tuesday was very good so we are expecting a good run from him.”

LAIRD STABLE

The inclusion of star miler Our Giant in Sunday’s R600 000, Grade 1 Mercury Sprint over 1 200m at Clairwood Racecourse raised a number of eyebrows but the five-year-old Australian-bred gelding has tons of class and under the weight-for-age conditions he commands the utmost respect.



Although he has been confined to longer races for most of his career, he has contested one 1 200m sprint and won it. That was against a weaker field than he meets on Sunday as a prep run for the J&B Met two seasons ago but he has since won races over 1 400m and 1 450m in top company and has shown he has plenty of speed.



Commenting on the gelding’s inclusion in the country’s top weight-for-age sprint trainer Charles Laird said it was the quality of the field that prompted him to enter Our Giant and take a chance.



“When I looked at the race I was surprised at the quality of the field - it did not look all that strong. There were no top sprinters in the race like Earl Of Surrey and as this will be his last race for the season I felt we might as well take a chance.



“I ran him in a 1 200m sprint as a prep for the J&B met and he won it. He’s a good horse and good horses do rise to the occasion.



“It is not easy coming back to the sprint from the 2 200m of the Vodacom Durban July but I have freshened him up and he is very well in himself. This will be his last run of the season before he has a long holiday so I felt we might as well take our chances.”



Charles said Our Giant’s mission after his long holiday would probably be the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate over a mile at Kenilworth . He finished second to Pocket Power in the race earlier this year.



“It is very difficult to find a race for him as he always keeps bumping into Pocket Power and he has shown he can’t beat Pocket Power who has beaten him three times. But he is going to have a long, long holiday and his mission after that will probably be the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate.”

OUR GIANT readily justified Charles Laird's decision to drop him back to 6f in the Mercury Sprint, when the Australian-bred son of Giant's Causeway romped home in the Clairwood Grade 1 on Sunday.

Anton Marcus settled the 9-2 chance a few lengths off the leaders before pressing the button a furlong and a half from home. His mount slipped effortlessly into another gear and quickly went four lengths clear.

Marcus waved hiswhip in triumph as the five-year-old swept past the post with Sharks Bay, also Australian-bred, chasing him home. Extinct (13-2) and 25-1 chance Wethreekings fared best of the remainder.

Marcus, second in the jockeys' table, said: "We thought it was a sub-standard field but, even so, I didn't want to get him into a fight too early.

"He'd had quite a tough season and he was coming back from 11 furlongs in the Durban July, so I opted to ridea patient race on him. Winning this race on this horse is one of the highlights of my Durban season."

Laird added: "The plan all season was to run Warm White Night in this race but he got a virus. Our Giant had had only one six furlong race in his life - prior to running second to Pocket Power in last year's Met - and he won that too.


"He was the first horse we bought in Australia and he started a big venture which has proved fruitful."

Our Giant has now won 12 of his 30 starts and over SAR3.1 million (£238,000) in stakes. Laird plans another tilt at the Queen'sPlate with his winner next season. He was second to Pocket Power in this year's race.