The G1 SA Derby (2450m) is the final leg of the SA Triple Crown at Turffontein this Saturday (29 March) in South Africa, but sadly this year it is not going to be won.
Parisian Walkway, who triumphed in the first leg, the G2 Gauteng Guineas (1600m), failed to handle the heavy conditions that made life tricky for a number of horses in the second leg, the G1 SA Classic (1800m).
That race was won by Confederate but while Parisian Walkway will take his place in the SA Derby, Confederate will not be running. All three Triple Crown races are held at Turffontein.
Much of the attention this year will be on Mike and Mathew De Kock-trained Immediate Edge. The son of Vercingetorix is unbeaten in three starts and Mike De Kock has already said he would be looking to run him in the G1 Durban July (2200m) at Greyville – one of South Africa’s biggest races.
He will have to get his merit rating up and no doubt the father-and-son De Kock team will be hoping this is the race that will do it for them.
He is without question a very exciting prospect who is still learning his trade. In his last start, over 2000m on the Turffontein Standside track, Immediate Edge showed tremendous courage to get up close home and touch off Wild Intent by a head.
The two are carded to meet again in the SA Derby and many pundits will point to the fact that Lucky Houdalakis-trained Wild Intent is 6lb better off and well weighted to reverse that result. Nevertheless, there are a few other factors to take into account.
The first is the level of improvement one is likely to get from lightly-raced Immediate Edge. Secondly, he suffered interference early in the straight and that forced him to go on to the inside rail. An astute Gavin Lerena hit the front on Wild Intent and left little room for Immediate Edge to go through.
That did make life tricky for the De Kock runner but jockey Ryan Munger steered his mount into the gap and the two horses produced an exciting duel which went to Immediate Edge.
Munger commented later that Lerena saw him coming up on his inside and “he knew the only way to beat me was to have me in tight quarters. But this horse is hard and I knew once I got him through, he was not going to back out of it, he would fight on through.”
Over the extra 450m Immediate Edge is the horse to beat, in spite of the weight turnaround.
Munger stays with the De Kock runner while Lerena will once again ride Wild Intent.
Another runner with a winning chance is Legend Of Arthur. Trainer Sean Tarry rates this colt highly and he put up an excellent performance in the SA Classic. He got lost in the race following a slow start and turned for home in last place and more than 12 lengths off the leaders. But he found an incredible finishing burst to run third and the son of Lancaster Bomber could be even better over this distance.
Champion jockey Richard Fourie takes the ride once again and that combination must be respected.
Trainer Alec Laird was quite surprised when Parisian Walkway won the Gauteng Guineas because he felt 1600m was too short. However, that was his first run back after a rest in which he was gelded. He may have gone flat in his second run after the layoff when unplaced in the SA Classic.
Trained by former jockey Weichong Marwing, winner of the 2002 Hong Kong Derby (2000m) aboard Olympic Express, Grey Jet came back after a two-month break and went straight into the SA Classic and finished fourth and he should be even better over this distance.
