Tarry, De Kock do battle at city track

In football terms, next Saturday’s Guineas meeting at Turffontein is as enticing as a Manchester derby between United and City.

The city track will host two grade 2 races — the Betting World Gauteng Guineas and the Wilgerbosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas and both are clashes between the top stables of Sean Tarry and Mike de Kock.

Champion trainer Tarry saddles four runners in the Betting World race against three from De Kock, while the Wilgerbosdrift field sees both stables represented by four horses.

In early betting, two Aussie imports from De Kock’s stable, Heavenly Blue and Ektifaa, have been priced up favourite for the two 1,600m races. Both will be ridden by Callan Murray.

Heavenly Blue, with a merit rating of 100, is the market leader for the males at 7-2 while stablemate Ektifaa tops the boards for the fillies at 28-10.

De Kock has strong back-up to Heavenly Blue in Janoobi with Piere Strydom booked to partner this three-year-old, who has an identical merit rating to that of Murray’s mount.

Tarry is marching on to another trainer’s title — his runners have amassed R17m in stake earnings — and S’manga Khumalo’s mount, Furiosa, might be the stable elect in the male Guineas.

If Khumalo has had the choice, it is an interesting call as stablemates Al Sahem (Anthony Delpech) and Matador Man (Lyle Hewitson) both have higher merit ratings. Nevertheless, there was plenty to like about Furiosa’s recent win.

If the betting is correct, the other stables are simply making up the numbers.

In the fillies event, Tarry and De Kock may have cursed when they learnt where their major hopes, Safe Harbour and Ektifaa, had fared in the barrier draw. The first-named drew the widest gate, while Ektifaa is marginally better at stall 14.

Orchid Island shares favouritism with Ektifaa despite having a merit-rating that is 10 points less than her stablemate.

Although a back injury has restricted Weichong Marwing’s appearances this season, the world-renowned rider has built up a good relationship with Tarry’s filly Safe Harbour.

If you will excuse the pun, Marwing finds himself in the same boat on Safe Harbour as Murray on Ektifaa. Yet he knows that — with a merit-rating of 108 — his mount is the highest rated in the field. 7-2 makes Heavenly Blue market leader for the males, while Ektifaa tops the boards for the fillies at 28-10