The word “champion” is wildly overused in South African horse racing marketing, but Saturday’s Champions Day – Day 3 of the four-legged The Championships, with the Premier’s Champions Challenge topping the bill – has some justification for superlatives if not the overkill.
Of course, your average punter is not much fussed about word pedantry or advertising hype; they’re focused on the R5 million Pick 6 pool on the day – and other bet offerings like a R2 million Jackpot and the internationally comingled pots of the Hong Kong Jockey Club World Pool meeting.
Yet, among those punters are purists and aficionados who will be mainly drawn by the high quality of equine on show. Many of the country’s top-rated horses are carded, including the best sprinters, Buffalo Storm Cody and Kingdundee, and the best female racer, Double Grand Slam. The three Grade 1 events – the aforementioned Challenge, the Empress Club Stakes and the Computaform Sprint – are, indeed, contests that separate true champions from the rest.
Also on Saturday are the final legs of the Triple Crown and Triple Tiara, with the latter title still within the reach of popular filly Hazy Dazy. This series might fall into a champion category, but doesn’t constitute the finale of The Championships, which only comes around on 25 April – just before Champions Season starts in KwaZulu-Natal featuring a Champions Cup and a Champions Stakes.
Lots of talent in contention
At Turffontein Racecourse, if you crack the massive Pick 6 you’re entitled to call yourself a champ, because it won’t be easy with so much talent in contention and so many connections striving for a win on the big day.
For starters, there’s no standout banker across Races 4 to 9. Brave souls might plump for SA’s top horse Buffalo Storm Cody in the Sprint (Race 7, Leg 4) or Double Grand Slam in the Empress (Race 5, Leg 2) or even Cape Town Met winner See It Again in the Challenge (Race 8, Leg 5).
What looks like the best bet on the card – Hazy Dazy in the Wilgerbosdrift Bridget Oppenheimer SA Oaks (Race 10) – falls outside the Pick 6, though the race is included in Jackpot 3 which has a big carryover pool.
Curious Girl in the Derby
Another likely short-priced favourite is Curious Girl in the TAB SA Derby.
Intriguingly, connections of this three-year-old filly have opted to take on the boys in the Derby over 2450m rather than her own sex in the Oaks over the same trip. The Derby purse is much bigger, the Derby field looks vulnerable and the option swerves a meeting with the thus-far all-conquering Hazy Dazy.
Again, Curious Girl’s race falls outside the Pick 6, but inside Jackpot 3 and will anchor many a permutation for that exotic.
If the girl wins, she will assume a special kind of champion status: not many fillies have won a Derby.
Breaking news for punters is that champion jockey Gavin Lerena will fulfil his engagement on Curious Girl – and all his other bookings on the day – despite taking a nasty-looking tumble in a race at the Vaal earlier in the week.
