There are close battles in all three competitions in the South African “Star” series and with the season now moving to Gauteng , there is every chance that the situation could change drastically over the next three months before action moves to KwaZulu-Natal .
South Africa's racing operators, Gold Circle and Phumelela, are running the competitions for horse owners, trainers, jockeys and media tipsters with a total of R700 000 in prizes up for grabs.
The Turfstar competition is for horse owners and trainers related to the success of their runners and carries a R400 000 prize for the winning owner and R100 000 to the winning trainer.
The Topstar competition is for jockeys and carries total prize money of R100 000 split on a R60 000, R30 000 and R10 000 basis for the three riders earning the most number of points.
The Tipstar competition is for media tipsters and has the same prize allocations as the jockey series with tipsters earning points according to the accuracy of their published selections for the qualifying feature events run during the season.
After the close of the Cape Summer Season, the top filly Bad Girl Runs, with wins in the Cape Fillies Guineas an the Cape Of Good Hope Paddock Stakes, was joint leader on 24 points in the Turfstar competition with the mighty grey from Gauteng, Ilha Da Vitoria, who had won the Gommagomma Summer Cup then finished second in both the Cape Of Good Hope Paddock Stakes and the J&B Met.
In joint third place on 18 points are Floatyourboat and Jamaica .
In the Topstar competition for jockeys, Anton Marcus had a clear lead on 39 points with wins in the Investec Cape Derby and Graham Beck Wines Cape Flying Championship and places in a few other races.
In second place on 32 points and well within striking distance of Marcus is Karl Neisius who scored a Guineas Double. Jason Jago who won the Fancourt Majorca Stakes and Jeff Lloyd who won the J&B Met are in joint third place on 18 points.
The tipster for the Sporting Post has shot to the top of the Tipstar competition on 110 points with the Witness tipster, Andrew Harrison, holding his consistently good form in second place on 102. Just two points behind Andrew in third place is another consistent performer in Damian Patterson of the Pretoria News.
In a separate competition run jointly by Gold Circle and the KwaZulu-Natal Bookmakers' Association, the Get-Out-Stakes, trainer Duncan Howells heads the trainer section on 37 points with Dennis Drier second on 30.5 points and Ron Phillips in third on 24 points.
In the jockey section, Sean Cormack holds a very slender lead on 38 points ahead of Robbie Hill with 37.5 points. Jason Jago is in third place on 29.5 points just a whisker ahead of Alec Forbes and Brandon Lerena who each have 29 points.