Summer Cup win takes Van Vuuren into second place on trainers’ log

Puerto Manzano’s win in the Betway Summer Cup has catapulted Johan Janse van Vuuren into second place on the national trainers’ log and the 40-year-old is set to end the season on a high.

Van Vuuren’s chief patron is businessman Laurence Wernars, who sold 70% of his company, Studio 88, to Mr Price for $225m in April. He owns Puerto Manzano, who won R1.5m for his victory in Saturday’s grade 1 race.

Van Vuuren has saddled 30 winners this term and can add to that tally when he sends 11 runners to the Vaal on Thursday.

With Keagan De Melo not riding at the meeting, the Randjesfontein trainer has engaged Gavin Lerena to partner five of his horses.

The pick of Lerena’s quintet should be Glittering Girl, who has far and away the highest merit-rating in the seventh race. A daughter of Rafeef who cost R500,000 as a yearling, the three-year-old ran second in last season’s Allan Robertson at Scottsville. That is superior form compared to what any of her seven rivals have achieved.

Despite her unplaced run in the Gardenia Stakes, trainer Gavin van Zyl’s four-year-old, Aga Heat, could pose the main threat to Glittering Girl.

Sean Tarry and young apprentice Siyanda Sosibo enjoyed considerable success at Tuesday’s Vaal meeting and they team up with facile maiden winner Whatyouwaitingfor. The worry here is that the daughter of Canford Cliffs has not raced since May.

Earlier in the meeting, Van Vuuren and Lerena have a chance of taking top honours in the third race with the What A Winter gelding Siberian Steel.

However, the three-year-old is held on form by Muzi Yeni’s mount, Tre Amici, who is sure to make a bold bid of continuing the good spell being enjoyed by trainer Robbie Sage.

Rose Velvet, another daughter of Canford Cliffs, rates an each-way shout in the eighth race in which Corné Spies’s three-year-old, Cian The Conqueror, will bid to maintain his unbeaten record.

The R200,000 son of William Longsword sprang a surprise on his debut at Turffontein, winning at odds of 100-1, but the form has worked out well with the second horse, Munchkin, winning his next start in impressive fashion.

If that was not a flash-in-the-pan performance by Cian The Conqueror he might well rate a banker bet for punters despite some of his rivals — notably Dancing Dora, Life Goes On and Integrate — possessing decent form.

Runners from Lucky Houdalakis’s stable demand close scrutiny on his home track and the filly Namaqua Blossom can notch her second win by beating Liverpool Legend in the fifth race.

Though Raymond Danielson will have to overcome a wide draw, Namaqua Blossom should appreciate stepping up to 1,800m.

Raratonga Rose is another Houdalakis runner who should go well in the sixth race. The Flower Alley filly — owned by Wernars — is bidding to complete a hat-trick.

In the final leg of the Pick 6, trainer Clinton Binda will be looking to Esqueville to record his third win after two placed efforts in his last two outings. The surprise package here could be Argentinian-bred gelding South Boy, one of three runners from the Van Vuuren stable.

SELECTIONS

1st Race: (10) Damned If I Do (16) Zoe Alexandra (1) Regina Bellissima (3) Reggies Girl

2nd Race: (1) Royal Mazarin (5) Twice In Camden (4) Cape Bouquet (2) Flag Bearer

3rd Race: (1) Tre Amici (11) Siberian Steel (2) Var Park (8) Iron Sky

4th Race: (14) Mo The Man (2) Stepping Out (1) Stroke Of Mercy (5) Phantomoftheforest

5th Race: (1) Namaqua Blossom (3) Liverpool Legend (5) Gilda Gray (2) Summerland

6th Race: (8) High Roller (9) Raratonga Rose (7) Trump My Queen (3) Kind Judy

7th Race: (3) Glittering Girl (1) Aga Heat (4) Whatyouwaitingfor (5) In The Beginning

8th Race: (1) Cian The Conqueror (5) Life Goes On (8) Dancing Dora (6) Integrate

9th Race: (2) Esqueville (3) South Boy (13) After Hours (11) Lady Sanza