Gavin Lerena looks to match his brother with a knockout run

After his boxing brother won a heavyweight bout at Kempton Park on Saturday night, jockey Gavin Lerena will want to keep the family in the headlines when he rides SA’s best horse, Kommetdieding, at Turffontein in four days’ time.

Kevin Lerena, 29, beat Romanian Bogdan Dinu at the Emperors Palace arena with a fourth-round knockout. It is unlikely to be that easy for his 36-year-old brother at the city track.

Bookmakers have priced up Kommetdieding as the 14-10 favourite for the grade 1 Horse Chestnut Stakes with Mike de Kock’s Aussie-bred import Al Muthana second in the market at 3-1. They are the only two runners quoted in single figures.

Gavin Lerena has piloted Kommetdieding to notable victories in 2021’s Durban July as well as the Cape Met at Kenilworth in January and the training combination of Harold Crawford and Michelle Rix must be applauded for trying to conquer Gauteng as well.

The son of Elusive Fort has been stabled with Roy Magner at Randjesfontein training centre for five weeks and has reportedly settled well in his new surroundings.

However, the question is whether the four-year-old will be caught out by the altitude in Saturday’s 1,600m race. It was put to a number of top trainers by the Turftalk website and their answers will be of concern for Kommetdieding’s legion of fans.

Geoff Woodruff (five-time champion trainer, now in Mauritius): “It takes a horse three to six months to acclimatise in Johannesburg unless the horse is a sprinter or sprinter/miler. You tend to have to work them harder at altitude. In order to get a horse fitter it has to reach a stage where it is in oxygen debt.”

Dennis Drier (renowned veteran trainer who saddled 12 highveld winners in the 2006/2007 season): “For the first three weeks of my campaign all of them ran to the form I expected. But they hit a slight dip at the three-week mark. Some of them weren’t finishing their work and were a bit off their feed. But two weeks later they were back to normal again.”

Alistair Gordon (retired trainer now working for Bloodstock SA): “Sprinters are better off and up to a mile you’ve got a chance. But there are no rules. Some horses handle altitude and [others] don’t.”

The altitude is not the only worry for Lerena ahead of Saturday’s race — he faces an in-form jockey rival in S’manga Khumalo who has won four times on Al Muthana, most recently in the 1,400m Hawaii Stakes.

Though he has little hope of overhauling log leader Warren Kennedy, it has been another successful season for Khumalo. Winning Form statistics to March 21 show he has ridden 120 winners from 724 mounts.

Khumalo had to settle for third place behind Second Base and Zillzaal on Sparkling Water in last Saturday’s Colorado King Stakes, but the run will have sharpened the filly up for the grade 1 Champions Challenge at the end of April.

This column still fancies the daughter of Silvano to run a place in the Hollywoodbets Durban July and the 5-1 (first four) being offered by bookmaker Lance Michael is tempting.