Mercury Sprint Trainer Comments

By David Thiselton

Dennis Drier will attempt to land a fifth Gr 1 win this season when he sends out Chave De Oura and Barbosa in the Mercury Sprint over 1200 at Clairwood on Saturday.

Chave De Oura hasn’t run since his unplaced effort in the L’Ormarin’s Queen’s in January, and that was due to an incident at Summerveld in which he fell over and injured himself.

However, the four-year-old Jet Master colt showed that he runs well fresh last November when coming back from an absence of eight months and running a 0,4 length second in the Gr 2 Merchants over 1200m at Kenilworth, despite having to give 5kg to the winner Tevez.

Tevez went on to finish a two length third in the Gr 1 Cape Flying Championship over 1000m at Kenilworth when running on strongly, so Chave De Oura looks to have the form and the class to be a threat on Saturday.

Assistant Trainer Stuart Ferrie said that Chave De Oura was in “good shape.”

Chave De Oura stays a mile, so it is questionable whether he has the pace to make up a lot of ground in the closing stages, so his unfavourable low draw of four will be particularly tricky for stable jockey Sean Cormack to overcome as he will probably be reluctant to drop him out.

Ferrie said about the four-year-old Captain Al gelding Barbosa, “He is fit and well and didn’t run a bad race in the Golden Horse Casino Sprint. For a long way it looked as if he would run fourth in that race, but was then passed late. He will prefer the easier 1200m of Clairwood, although he did carry quite a light weight in the Golden Horse and this is now weight for age.”

Barbosa has a favourable draw of ten that will suit his handy style perfectly, but off a merit rating of 102, he is 1,5kg under sufferance with his 105-rated stable companion and 7kg under sufferance with the highest rated horse, Copper Parade.

Mark Dixon’s Gr 1 Mercury Sprint contender Showmetheway hasn’t had any luck with draws recently, but the Summerveld-based trainer is not too concerned about the five-year-old Muhtafal gelding’s low draw on Saturday and makes him a “massive runner as an outsider.”

Looking at Showmetheway’s recent form, a conclusion could be drawn that he has turned the corner since the blinkers have been removed.

However, Dixon said, “It is more than just the blinkers, he is now being ridden the right way, from off the pace, that’s the way he likes it. Having a favourable high draw can sometimes be a problem at Clairwood as the horses go over to that side and you can get stuck behind them without a run. But from his draw of two, he can be dropped out and will get a clear run down the middle. He came out of his last run exceptionally well (the Non-Black Type KZN Breeders 1200 over the same course and distance as the Mercury). Having won that race so impressively, I looked at the field for the Mercury Sprint and saw that it wasn’t the greatest, so decided to supplement him. If ever he has a chance to finish in the first three in a Gr 1 this is it. He has never looked better and has never been better.”

Showmetheway won that last race going away by 1,75 lengths, despite jumping from draw one and coming down the inside of horses, so it was a highly meritorious win, especially considering he carried top-weight of 60kg and was giving 4kg to the well regarded runner up Flyfirstclass.

Brandon Lerena rode him for the second time in that race and has been kept aboard. Lerena’s first Gr 1 victory was in the Mercury Sprint in 2007, while he was still an apprentice, aboard the Herman Brown-trained War Artist.

Showmetheway has a special place in Dixon’s heart. He was reported to be making a breathing noise on debut in September 2012, in which he was beaten 22,85 lengths. A wind operation didn’t bring any improvement and at that stage Dixon felt his future would be as a lead horse for the string. However, the first step in the turnaround was when an over ground exercise laryngoscope revealed that he was displacing his soft palate throughout a gallop. A cornell collar solved that problem and he then showed a tremendous amount of further improvement with gelding. He consequently rattled off five victories in succession, including a Listed race at Turffontein, with the first of the victories coming just nine months after that humiliating debut. The Mercury Sprint is over the same course and distance as his debut, so it would provide a good parable of perseverance if he were to win it.

Mike Bass’s four-year-old Jet Master filly Fly By Night nearly pulled off a 55-1 shock when coming within a head of beating the brilliant Via Africa in the weight for age Gr 1 SA Fillies Sprint over 1200 at Scottsville in May and she drops back to that trip in the weight for age Gr 1 Mercury Sprint at Clairwood on Saturday.

Bass said after the SA Fillies Sprint, “We were hoping for a place, but what really surprised us was that she was the only one who could give that filly a go and the rest of the field were three lengths back.”

Bass is known to bring horses to their best during their four-year-old year and Jet Master’s progeny also get better at that age.

Bass thought that Fly By Night would stay the 1450m of the Gr 2 Tibouchina last time as she is a full-sister to another horse he trained, Jet Into The Wind, whose best trip was 1400m. However, after being a bit keen and caught wide she found little extra when it counted, so will enjoy the step back in trip.

Stable jockey Grant van Niekerk, who rode her in her last two races, is riding at Kenilworth on Saturday and is replaced by Antony Delpech, who rode her three runs ago in the Gr 3 Poinsettia over Saturday’s course and distance, where she finished sixth.

She is drawn on the right side and this tall rangy filly looks to have a chance if reproducing her SA Fillies Sprint run.

Some racegoers might have been surprised to see the Joey Ramsden-trained Happy Forever standing his ground in the Gr 1 Mercury Sprint, as he was pulled out of his last race in the Gr 2 Post Merchants at Greyville.



However, Ramsden revealed last week, “He was badly checked and Bernard (Fayd’Herbe) felt that there was something not right and didn’t want to take a chance, so pulled him out of the race. However, he was examined afterwards and trotted up a hundred percent sound.”



Indeed, the five-year-old Var gelding was striding out well in his workout on the sand at Clairwood last week and will be fit from his recent runs.



The Merchants was also the first time he had been around a right-handed turn, so he will be happy again to be going down the straight.



Stuart Randolph replaces Fayd’Herbe, who has been booked off due to a wrist injury.



Happy Forever’s draw of 12 is on the favourable side of the track and his early pace means that it is unlikely that he will be stuck behind a wall of horses that have moved over to that side, as tends to happen down the Clairwood straight.



In Happy Forever’s previous three efforts before the Merchants, he won the Gr 2 Senor Santa Handicap over 160m at Turffontein by 1,25 lengths from Here Comes Billy, with whom he will be 4kg worse off on Saturday, he then finished a 4,05 length fifth in the weight for age Gr 1 Computaform Sprint over 1000m at Turffontein and then a 2,6 length fourth in the Gr 1 Golden Horse Casino Sprint over 1200m at Scottsville.



He does have a tough task with Computaform winner Copper Parade, but will likely enjoy the step up to 1200 and could earn his third Gr 1 cheque this season.

The Yvette Bremner-trained Port Elizabeth raider Copper Parade has had no hiccups in his preparation for the weight for age Gr 1 Mercury Sprint over 1200m at Clairwood on Saturday and will be hard to beat if repeating his brilliant win under Piere Strydom last time out in the weight for age Gr 1 Computaform Sprint over 1000m at Turffontein, as this field is considerably weaker and he will enjoy the step up in trip too.



The six-year-old Lecture gelding was on his way to Clairwood yesterday (Wednesday) and Bremner is of the opinion that he actually “likes” travelling.



She said, “Last time when he arrived in Jo’burg he initially seemed to be saying “leave me alone”, then when we stood back he pricked his ears and walked out of the float confidently.”



In the Computaform the six-year-old Lecture gelding at last had a race pan out perfectly to his liking.



He proved in that race, in which he beat the champion Via Africa by 0,75 lengths and the Gr 1 winner Contador by 2,25 lengths, that he has an exceptional turn of foot, but needs a strong gallop early so that he can stay in touch at a relaxed gallop and then turn it on at the business end.



The connections will obviously be hoping for a strong pace again and might get it, considering Normanz led from start to finish in the Gr 1 Golden Horse Sprint and is drawn on the standside, which is where the horses tend to tack over to.



Copper Parade has a tricky low draw of five, but Strydom is aboard again and he will know from the Computaform that he will be able to afford to drop him out. The classy bay won a Gr 1 as a two-year-old over 1450m, so he should relish the step up in trip.



Copper Parade was originally due to stay on the Highveld after his Computaform win, as he enjoys the tracks up there, and he was going to travel down for the Golden Horse Casino Sprint.



However, he came down with a virus and consequently travelled back home to Port Elizabeth.



That shouldn’t be a problem as he was prepared for the Computaform out of Port Elizabeth.



Everything has gone smoothly in his preparation for the last five weeks.



Bremner reported him to be in great shape and, now that Strydom knows what he is capable of, she expected the champion jockey’s ride to be “spot on.”

Another top effort from David/tipster