Photo by Racing and Sports
Sunday, 19 February 2012: Silver Flyer heads a competitive field of three-year-olds in the R1 million Betting World Gauteng Guineas to be run over 1600m at Turffontein on February 25.
The Mike de Kock-trained Silver Flyer won the Dingaans and went on to finish second behind Variety Club in the Cape Guineas and based on merit ratings and good draw will be the horse to beat in the G2 event.
Silver Flyer will meet two unbeaten runners – the Gavin van Zyl-trained Slumdogmillionaire and stablemate Red Barrel.
While De Kock has engaged stable jockey Anthony Delpech to ride Silver Flyer, champion jockey Anton Marcus will be aboard Emperors Palace Ready To Run Cup winner Red Barrel.
De Kock and Sean Tarry have four runners apiece in the line-up and each has one reserve runner.
Tarry's stable jockey Robbie Fradd rides Dingaans runner up Whiteline Fever while Sean Cormack is booked for E-Jet.
Tarry is still to finalise riding arrangements for Pomodoro and Heavy Metal.
The Gauteng Guineas forms the first leg of the SASCOC Triple Crown leading to the G1 SA Classic over 1800m on March 31 and the G1 SA Derby over 2450m on April 28 with a R2 million bonus for any horse capable of winning all three events.
The meeting also features the G2 Betting World Fillies Guineas, a R500,000 event that starts the SA Triple Tiara leading to the G1 SA Fillies Classic and the G SA Oaks. The Triple Tiara carries a bonus of R1 million.
Zimbabwe's unbeaten Horse of the Year Control Freak has arrived in South Africa and tops the ratings for the Fillies Guineas.
A filly with an even better Zimbabwe record than the great Ipi Tombe, Control Freak is trained by Lisa Harris for owners Robin Bruss and Australian-based Alistair Pulford and is now stabled Roy Magner's Randjesfontein base.
Ipi Tombe raced five times in Harare for four wins and a second and following her arrival in South Africa went on to win the SA Fillies Classic, the SA Fillies Guineas, the Woolavington 2000 and then the Durban July as a three-year-old.
A glorious international campaign followed and she will long be remembered as one of the greatest fillies to come out of the region.
Control Freak, who cost a mere R30,000 at the 2010 National Two-Year-Old Sale, has won all her eight starts in Zimbabwe but will meet stiff opposition at Turffontein including unbeaten Mary's Pride, four-time winner Katy's Lane and recent Three Troika's Stakes winner Go Indigo.
“She has travelled over 1000km for this race and is faced with entirely new conditions, so it's not going to be easy," said Bruss.
"We'll only know how good she really is once she takes on top horses. If she fails she can always go back to Zimbabwe for the last two legs of their Triple Crown.'
"The quality of competition she's been beating is weak in comparison to South Africa and the fields she's run against have been relatively small. We don't know whether she's a hometown hero or will match up to the best in South Africa.
"The only way to know was to bring her down to run."
