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Picture: 123RF/CHRIS VAN LENNEP
Picture: 123RF/CHRIS VAN LENNEP

Justin Snaith has four runners in Saturday’s WSB Pocket Power Stakes at Kenilworth and victory for Itsrainingwilliam will enhance the prospects of his stable companion, Without Question, for next week’s R5m Hollywoodbets Durban July.

Though jockey Richard Fourie has not partnered Itsrainingwilliam in recent outings, he will be well aware that the son of William Longsword finished third behind Without Question on his penultimate start.

While Thursday’s final Durban July gallops generally told punters not much more than their big race fancy hadn’t passed away overnight, Fourie is reported to have been extremely happy with Without Questions’ workout and the 37-year-old jockey has been in red-hot form in recent months.

The other July hope who got the thumbs up from a number of pundits after the gallops was Dave The King. The Gary Player-bred three-year-old will be trying 2,200m for the first time but he turned in an excellent performance in the Daily News 2000.

Those punters in the corner of Dave The King will be encouraged by the comments from Mike de Kock in an interview with Turftalk.

He said: “Dave The King has improved a helluva lot — he is absolutely flying at home. He’s come on from his last start and he’s definitely improved.

“I do have a big question mark over 2,200m in the July because he has a tremendous amount of pace and he has a massive action.”

Regarding the draws for Dave The King and Safe Passage, De Kock said: “I was hoping for anything between 8 and 12 and got 10 and 14 so no complaints. I like to stay a little out of the scrum — I prefer that for the July. It can get a bit hectic depending on what your tactics are so it will be interesting to see what sort of tactics will be employed.”

In the Pocket Power Stakes, Master Redoute, the mount of Corné Orffer, may pose the main threat to the Snaith quartet. He has a merit-rating of 105 which is four points inferior to Itsrainingwilliam but is 1kg better off this time.

The supporting feature at Kenilworth — the Stormsvlei Stakes (Listed) — may chiefly concern Flower Of Saigon and the Candice Bass-Robinson duo of Gold Poker Game and Who Do You Love.

It’s an amazing fact that Flower Of Saigon has had a different jockey in each of her past seven starts and Grant van Niekerk has got the call-up this time. The mare should make a bold bid for a fourth career win.

Gold Poker Game has played her part in Drakenstein Stud’s earnings this season and — better drawn than her stablemate — has a chance of taking the R118,750 first purse.

Brett Crawford has five runners in this contest and Future Girl, the mount of Louis Mxothwa, may be the stable elect. The daughter of Futura has few miles on the clock.

Saturday is the final day of an enthralling week of top action at Royal Ascot and the feature event is the grade 1 Queen Elizabeth 11 Jubilee Stakes for which Australian raider Artorius heads the market at 3-1.

It will be interesting to see whether Highland Princess turns out again after John Quinn’s mare looked unlucky not to get the King’s Stand Stakes in the stewards room on Tuesday.

SELECTIONS

Pocket Power Stakes

(Kenilworth, Saturday)

1 (10) Itsrainingwilliam

2 (1) Master Redoute

3 (7) The Futureisbright

4 (5) Top Quality

Stormsvlei Stakes

(Kenilworth, Saturday)

1 (6) Flower Of Saigon

2 (7) Gold Poker Game

3 (11) Who Do You Love

4 (12) Fleeting

KZN Breeders Mile

(Greyville, Sunday)

1 (3) Captain Casey

2 (6) MK’s Pride

3 (7) Willow’s Wish

4 (9) Noble City

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