Exciting line-up for Charity Mile

Jack Milner

A competitive 18-horse field has been revealed for the Grade 2 Allied Steelrode Onamission Charity Mile over 1600m at TAB Turffontein on Saturday 31 October.

As a handicap, runners are weighted according to their respective merit ratings and on that basis every runner has a theoretical winning chance.

This year’s event has seen entries from all across the country with many runners using this as a stepping-stone to next month’s Betway Summer Cup.

The raiders include Glen Kotzen’s Gold Cup winner Holding Thumbs, champion trainer Justin Snaith has Malmesbury Missile, Peter Muscutt runs I Salute You and Isivavane, James Crawford has Otto Luyken, Andre Nel has Zeitz and Alan Greeff will be bring Zinovi up from the Eastern Cape.

Mike and Mathew de Kock have three runners in the main draw – I’m A Fireball, Greaterix and Spilttheeights – as well as reserve runner Immediate Edge.

Sean Tarry-trained Grand Empire, winner of the TAB SA Classic, brings Grade 1 form into the race.

However, jockey Keagan de Melo will have to deal with No 18 draw.

The four-year-old son of Vercingetorix had a warm-up run in a Pinnacle Stakes over 1600m on the Inside track on 10 October and did well enough when finishing 3.40 lengths behind Calla Lagoon.

He could get a chance to avenge that defeat as the winner, trained by Stuart Pettigrew, is also in the field.

Tarry has a number former Grade 1 winner in Cosmic Speed who also carries top weight of 60kg.

Of course, this event is not all about the racing. As the name implies, the focus is all about charity and this year 20 charities will split R1-million. The final field will comprise 16 runners but there will be another three runners that will be included as reserves.

The charities will each draw a horse and the amount they receive will depend on where their selected runner finishes in the race. The winner will receive R140,000, the second placed finisher will get R100,000, R70,000 for third and R50,000 for fourth.

The remaining 16 charities will each receive R40,000, no matter where their horse finishes and even if they don’t have a runner.

 

ALLIED STEELRODE CHARITY MILE (Grade 2)(Open) R1,000,000 1600m

1 – 2 COSMIC SPEED (S G Tarry) C Zackey 60.0 – 121

2 – 12 CHOISAANADA (E Verdonese) R Danielson 59.5 – 120

3 – 14 ZINOVI (A C Greeff) R Fourie 59.5 – 120

4 – 5 HOLDING THUMBS (G S Kotzen) C Little 59.0 – 119

5 – 1 I’M A FIREBALL (M/M de Kock) M Yeni 57.5 – 117

6 – 9 PRESSONREGARDLESS (D Nieuwenhuizen) D De Gouveia 57.0 – 115

7 – 6 CHRONICLE KING (C/T Dawson) A Fortune 56.5 – 115

8 – 8 ZEITZ (W A Nel) S Moodley 56.5 – 114

9 – 17 I SALUTE YOU (P B Muscutt) A Mosaheb 56.0 – 113

10 – 3 OTTO LUYKEN (J Crawford) J P v’d Merwe 56.0 – 113

11 – 10 CALLA LAGOON (S T Pettigrew) P Mxoli 55.0 – 111

12 – 18 GRAND EMPIRE (S G Tarry) K de Melo 54.5 – 111

13 – 15 MALMESBURY MISSILE (J S Snaith) T Godden 54.5 – 111

14 – 19 BUSSTOPINHOUNSLOW (G J Maroun) M K Katjedi 54.5 – 110

15 – 13 GREATERIX (M/M de Kock) C Habib 54.5 – 110

16 – 16 KISSHOTEN (A P Peter) K Matsunyane 54.0 – 109

17 – 4 SPLITTHEEIGHTS (M/M de Kock) C Murray 53.5 – 109

18 – 7 ISIVIVANE (P B Muscutt) B Marx-Jacobson 53.5 – 108

Reserve Runners

19 – 11 IMMEDIATE EDGE (M/M de Kock) Reserve 1 53.5 – 108

Same Trainer: (1,12) (5,15,17,19) (9,18)