IT'S SHOWTIME

The feast of top-quality racing draws to the region all the top horses in the country. Comprises 15 Grade 1 events, eight Grade 2 races, 11 at the Grade 3 level and 13 of Listed status. There will also be the three finals of the new Chapter Challenge Series, with each final carrying a stake of R150 000.

From the early feature events of the 2004-2005 season in Gauteng and the Western Cape, some exciting new stars have emerged including Stuart Pettigrew’s Gommagomma Summer Cup winner, Tyson, and the Cape’s dual Classic winner, Rabiya. Dean Kannemeyer’s colt won both the R750 000 Bloodstock SA Cape Guineas and the R300 000 Cape Of Good Hope Derby and along with stable companion Ivy Green, who ran second in the Derby, are likely to be on the short list for the R2-million Vodacom Durban July.

They, along with many promising juveniles and three-year-olds, will be travelling to KwaZulu-Natal for the feature season which includes the final legs of all the races in the eight categories of the SA All Stars Series.

Also heading for the region will be Joey Ramsden’s dual Grade 1 winning filly from the Cape, Shadow Dancing, who was victorious in both the R500 000 The Table Bay Cape Fillies Guineas and the R350 000 Fancourt Majorca Stakes.

Add to the visiting team another Ramsden inmate, R600 000 Queen’s Plate winner Winter Solstice, and Sean Tarry’s surprise winner of the J&B Met, Alastor as well as the horses that ran up close in all the features, and the prospects of outstanding racing through the winter are high.

The feature season at present has moved to Gauteng where more potential stars could emerge. They in turn will be travelling to KwaZulu-Natal for the winter where they will be meeting, possibly for the first time, the top younger horses that have emerged during the spring and autumn in Gauteng and the summer in the Cape.