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A.N. & The Honorable Mrs. G. R. Foster s 5-year-old homebred Belgarion, a winner of his last six races, headlines a field of nine runners entered for Saturday s one-mile L Ormarins Queen s Plate (G1) at Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town, South Africa. The race winner will earn an automatic berth into the $2 million FanDuel Breeders Cup Mile presented by PDJF (G1) through the Breeders Cup Challenge Series. One race prior to the Queen s Plate, Mauritzfontein Ltd. s unbeaten 5-year-old mare Summer Pudding leads the 1 1/8-mile Cartier Paddock Stakes (G1) for a free starting position into the $2 million Maker s Mark Breeders Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1).
Image for illustration. Picture: Tracey Lee Stark
Tough decisions have been foisted upon South Africa’s intrepid knights of the irons by the latest coronavirus lockdown rules, which oblige them to select one of four provinces in which to base themselves and race for most of the month of January. The jocks have not taken this decree lying down – first pleading, in vain, with the National Horseracing Authority to have a heart and relax its new rule, then threatening High Court action, citing restraint of trade and restriction of livelihood etc. Racing officialdom is standing firm, for now, understandably jumpy about a Covid-19 outbreak sullying the game’s.
PREMIUM! Belgarion, ridden by Richard Fourie, won the 2020 Vodacom Durban July and is the favourite for the Met. Picture: Candiese Lenferna
The five-year-old gelding Belgarion is going for his sixth win in a row and his eighth overall – from just 10 runs. The big question is: will he be fit enough after a four-month rest to beat scarily good opposition in the 1600m Grade 2 WSB Green Point Stakes – one of the principal pointers to the Cape Town season’s climax, the Met, at the end of January? Trainer Justin Snaith said this week Belgarion was working well at home and his gallops were “encouraging”. Those are less confident words than the Cape ace was uttering in Durban in July,.