The Sunday News
Mandla Moyo
HORSE racing authorities Mashonaland Turf Club are set to hold their second racing competition of the year, the Guineas Trial race at over 1600m at Borrowdale Racecourse this afternoon.
The race carded as Race Six on the card is on at 1515hrs. At the end of the battle the winning connection will share $4 800 from the declared stake of $8 000, leaving the next three athletes over the line to get $1 600, $1 000 and $600 respectively.
According to the race card pushed out by Mash Turf Club a lean field of six horses will gallop flat out post wards in a battle for the honours in this event. However, this field is likely to give punters a headache as the majority of them are yet to make noise within the racing industry.
For that reason picking a potential winner here is like searching for a needle in a hay stack, a difficult assignment indeed. Considering that this is a two-horse contest career records of trainers will also come into play. In that area Bridget Stidolph has proven to be too hot to handle for other trainers.
Under her belt are some of the biggest races any local trainers would love to win namely the Castle Tankard and the OK Challenge to name but a few. From her yard, punters will also look at the record of the jockey a factor which will swing the pendulum in favour Missy Franklin who will be directed by jockey Cavin Habib who is on top of his game.
Habib has previously made his way to the podium after leading a number of runners to glory, based on that trainer Bridget will be hoping that Habib executes the plan well in leading Missy Franklin to glory. The fact this runner has tasted glory over a similar distances makes her one of the runners to keep an eye on.
Then there is another potential heart breaker in the form of Born to Shine another one unleashed by Bridget. From three races this three year old bay horse merit rated the highest at 73 has won once and placed twice. This is an ideal candidate for a show bet, however, her biggest handicap could be the fact that at distances similar to the task at hand she has failed to move mountains.
Can jockey Brandon push her to glory this time around? Let’s wait for the stall gates to open!
Nevertheless, this is easier said than done. However, in veteran jockey Brendon McNaughton is another potential game change who can spoil the day for any rival if push comes to shove. Other runners to look out for are Oden ridden by jockey Jarryd Penny trained by Penny Fisher.
Action Jackson with jockey Karl Zechner in the irons merit rated 72 with a career record of one win and one place cannot be ignored. Action Jackson a runner-up over similar distances can at last bring a smile once again to Penny Fisher.
Fisher, when asked about the chances of this runner, was hopeful that Action Jackson can bring home something come end of the race.
“I am happy with the preparation I have had with my horses, one of the horses I have ordered is Action Jackson whom I think has chance here.”
On the other hand Bridget was worried about her best runner Born to Shine who is carrying top weight of 60kgs coming into this meeting.
The last runner is Opaque with jockey Brandon McNaughton on board.
@mandlamoyo3
