Christmas Handicap Grade 3 At Clairwood On Monday

The Christmas Handicap Grade 3 over 1600m takes place at Clairwood Park on Monday 26 December, for a stake of R184 000. The race is due to be run at 16:15.

Las Ramblas, recently voted at the KZN Breeders Awards as Outstanding Three Year Old Filly, is the only filly contesting the field. She won last time out on 4 December over 1400m.

Black Wing, a son of Kahal, went on to win four in a row after shedding his maiden tag in February and then was beaten by just one length by The Apache in the Grade 1 Daily News 2000. Since then, he ran 3.75 lengths off Pierre Jourdan in the Emperor’s Palace Charity Mile Grade 2, and his run in the Sansui Summer Cup Grade 1 can be attributed to being cramped early in the race. He shoulders the heaviest weight in the race carrying 60kgs.

Bay Route, Deon Visser’s charge, is seeking to complete a hat-trick here. He’s gained four of his five career wins over 1600m, but what is interesting here is that all of those successes were achieved at the sharp Greyville circuit. He is clearly still improving though and with the not so easy to pass Felix Coetzee in the saddle he should to be right there when the race begins in earnest.

The ultra consistent Magnanimous, a son of The Sheik, is a bit of an enigma. Indeed, after holding every chance he’s been beaten into second by less than half a length in five of his last six starts. He’s drawn well here and should be right there again.

*Bold denotes horses bred or associated with studs in KZN

Information courtesy of www.sportingpost.co.za