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Article Details
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It’s Cup Day!
Hundreds of thousands of horseplayers will be treated to six hours of amazing racing on Cup Day at Turffontein this Saturday.
The R2-million Steinhoff Summer Cup, one of the most famous races on the continent, headlines a programme that includes four other feature races and the four-race International Jockeys' Challenge, in which South Africa’s best riders will clash with international superstars like Frankie Dettori.
The Challenge is the first international racing event on South African soil for 22 years. You can bet that the atmosphere will be electric, the racing will be out of this world and the tote betting pools will be huge with chance after chance to win BIG!
For horseracing fans it doesn’t get any better, so be at Turffontein if you can. Otherwise catch it live in a TAB or at home on Tellytrack (channel 232 DStv) and SS7 (channel 207 DStv - live transmission from 4.10pm). A maximum field of 18 is carded for the Summer Cup with two reserves to replace any runner scratched before 9am on the big day.
It’s a big field and you have to be careful because the race is run on handicap terms, which means that theoretically every horse has a chance. But for our money trainers Mike de Kock and Charles Laird are set to dominate.
Nobody knows more about winning the Summer Cup than De Kock and he will saddle four runners in a bid to win the race for an incredible eighth time. The pick of his quartet is progressive four-year-old Rudra, who has plenty in his favour including a handy draw and one of the best riders in the business in Kevin Shea.
Laird sends three runners to Summer Cup and stable jockey Anton Marcus will be aboard Smart Banker, a four-year-old gelding the stable has long believed is capable of big things.
Smart Banker and Rudra clashed in the recent Victory Moon Handicap over 1800m at Turffontein and both turned in first-rate trials for the Cup. Smart Banker was trapped wide through the turn after jumping from No 14 stall, but that didn’t prevent him from sailing past his rivals in the closing stages and going on to win easily from Rudra..
That was Smart Banker’s first run for three months and he should be fitter now, plus he will relish this longer distance. He is drawn wide again, but will be a formidable rival.
Rudra, however, has an outstanding chance of turning the tables on Smart Banker. He returned from a five-month rest to finish third behind Likeithot (2kg worse off) and Thandolwami (0.5kg worse off) in the 1600m Charity Mile November Handicap and a week later took second place behind Smart Banker in the Victory Moon.
De Kock didn’t think his charge was ready for either of those races and Rudra is now 2kg better off (the equivalent of two lengths) with Smart Banker for a 1.25-length beating in the Victory Moon. Tough choice but our slight preference is for Rudra.
What of the others? Laird’s stable is hot and his Charity Mile winner Likeithot could run a big race, as could De Kock charge Galant Gagnant, who needed his last run and nearly beat Russian Sage in the Daily News 2000 at Greyville back in winter.
Gliding High charged late in the Charity Mile to finish a close fifth and now travels 400m further in his first start beyond 1600m. Look for a big run if he stays, while Aluminium could take away place money but looks held by Smart Banker and Rudra..
Smart Banker 
Written by: Nicci
Number of views: 954
Date posted: 11/28/2008
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