{"id":69903,"date":"2025-03-14T15:39:43","date_gmt":"2025-03-14T15:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=69903"},"modified":"2025-03-14T15:39:48","modified_gmt":"2025-03-14T15:39:48","slug":"g2-south-african-classic-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=69903","title":{"rendered":"G2 South African Classic Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

#1 Randy Rogers (The Mecca) 8\/1<\/span> : The move to the turf last time out proved to be the right decision, as he not only took down the 9 furlong allowance race, but posted his highest speed figure to date. It wasn\u2019t like he was performing badly on the dirt with 4 top 2 finishes out of 5 races. The 10th in the G3 Sam\u2019s Town Delta Jackpot is a bit concerning, as he gets back to facing graded company today. A stud in the allowance races, is he ready to take the next step today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#2 Hermet (East-West Connection) 13\/1<\/span> : Winner of 3 of 4, but they were all facing those local breeds. Jumps up not only to open company today, but graded stakes company as well. He did win convincingly in those victories and the only route race he was pulling away by over 4 lengths at the end. Will know early if he fits as he looks to sit close to the lead right out of the gate. If he fits with these, might be able to get the first jump on the leaders turning for home. Is the jump in levels too big?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#3 Harley Flames (No Residency) 13\/1<\/span> : Winner of only 1 of his first 7 races, but those other 6 races were all 2nd place finishes. He is a model of consistency when battling in allowance company. Took his first jump into stakes company last race and was a hard charging second in the Tricky Flute Turf Mile. Probably will like the extra distance today, and this is the next logical step to try. Look to see him come flying home late. Will he be able to keep his streak alive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#4 Midnight Causes (Orphan Racing) 8\/1<\/span> : Another one that benefited from the switch to turf. Lead all the way and hit the triple digit mark in his first go against allowance company. Took part in the G3 South African Guineas last out and faded back to 9th spot. Hope the experience of that race helps here, as not many others have faced a field that tough. Not sure the added distance will help him, as he does have a habit of fading late in races. Will the second stakes try be better?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#5 Burleigh (Down Under Racing) 9\/1<\/span> : Lightly raced as this will only be the 5th time he has hit the starting gate in his career. Was trending in the right direction with the two early victories and the 2nd in the Teddys Republics during his juvenile season. Not sure what happened the first start of this year, as it was the first time off the board with the 5th place finish in the Zero Louis Turf Special. Hopefully it wasn\u2019t a surface problem as he will be facing the same \u201cgood\u201d turf he did in that race. Can he handle this surface?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#6 Meemaw\u2019s Moon Pie (Pastures of Green) 7\/1<\/span> : Bazinga! Second choice on the board coming off a win in a NW2L event, where he ran away from the field posting a triple digit speed figure. Seems to be improving every race, but this is a big jump from the level he was just running. Really can\u2019t argue with the consistency of 7 career races all on the podium. Comes up against a field that he should be competitive against and has experience at the distance. Can he find another spot on the podium here? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

#7 Smelvin Returns (Empire State Racing) 26\/1<\/span> : Has only raced twice before this and even that first one was a \u201chot\u201d race where he was clearly the best. His last out was against local JPN breeds and was leading by as many as 6 \u00bc lengths before fading to second place. Takes a huge boost in class today, and have to wonder if he is ready for the challenge. Longest shot on the board. Does he fit with these?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#8 Honshu Flare (Hoosier Racing) 9\/1<\/span> : Winner of 3 of 5 lifetime races, all from coming off the pace late in the race. Been running at a mile distance consistently and finished 4th in the Miswaki Approval Turf Mile last time out. Definitely needed more room to run them down and the switch to the extra furlong should benefit him late. It would have been nice to not see the speed figure take a step back when running against better, but the experience should help. Is 9 furlongs his sweet spot?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#9 The Dragon King\u2019s (No Residency) 13\/1<\/span> : Winner of 3 of 4 as he has made his way through some allowance conditions. This will be the first time facing stakes company and he gets a softer field to try it against. Seems he wants to be near or on the lead and has been able to sustain the effort as he has added distance to his runs. Cuts back to 9 furlongs here and looks to continue the upward trend in his speed figures. If he does he should be right in the mix. Is he better than his odds say he is?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#10 Rile (The Mecca) 11\/1<\/span> : Had a very nice juvenile turf season (Podium finishes in the G2 Miller Reef and G2 International), but it finished with disappointment with the 10th place finish in the G1 Futurity. Obviously has been facing much better than these in those events. Started his 3 year old campaign with a dirt allowance sprint, but was unable to hold the lead coming 2nd. Interesting choice to bring him back here after that decision, but does have some back class. What does he do best?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#11 Elly (Universal Racing Club) 5\/1<\/span> : The favourite, the best in the \u201cField In Numbers\u201d, and my pick to win this G2 event. Not like he is near the top of this division but against this group seems to be the one to beat. He won that last allowance race by over 15 lengths, which speaks for itself. Only one in here with a SW, but those were residency races. Nice that he got the prep in at this distance as it looked like he wanted more distance in the High Devil Turf, where he came 4th. How does he respond as the favourite?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#12 Sweykitten (Down Under Racing) 10\/1<\/span> : Ran in a $6250 claimer to start his career, so look where he is now. Faded to second in his last in the War City Turf Route, but had to be impressed with the jump the speed figure took there. The two listed stake tries he lost places down the stretch, so it will be interesting to see how the added distance plays for him. Lots in here like to be close to the lead, so the key will be if he can get in a comfortable position early. Can he hold this position late?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#13 Whingeing Pom (Orphan Racing) 26\/1<\/span> : Longest shot on the board and will be his first time trying a route. Has been facing graded company in turf sprints with his best finish being a 7th in the G2 Laffitte Criterium. Speed figures are a touch below the best in here, but does seem like he runs out of room in those sprints. No idea how he handles the extra distance, so understand the odds. Definition of a wildcard. What does he do in his first route?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#14 CK Awesome March (Canadian Thoroughbred Residency) 9\/1<\/span> : Most experience in here as this will be his 12th start. Been a bit inconsistent in his placings with his only graded attempt a 4th in the G3 Woette Sprint. Only will be his third route race, but comes in off a nice 5 \u00bc length victory facing allowance company. Got his speed figure to triple digits so hopefully can build off of that momentum. Will the experience translate to more consistency?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Field in Numbers<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Horse<\/span><\/td>Speed – L3<\/span><\/td>CPU Value<\/span><\/td>T\/R Rank<\/span><\/td>Total Points<\/span><\/td><\/tr>
<\/td><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
Elly<\/td>97.3<\/td>784<\/td>277<\/td>40<\/td><\/tr>
Sweykitten<\/td>95.9<\/td>696<\/td>283<\/td>32<\/td><\/tr>
Meemaw’s Moon Pie<\/td>94.4<\/td>731<\/td>529<\/td>30<\/td><\/tr>
Randy Rogers<\/td>96.7<\/td>697<\/td>1286<\/td>28<\/td><\/tr>
Midnight Causes<\/td>95.9<\/td>717<\/td>1690<\/td>27<\/td><\/tr>
CK Awesome March<\/td>95.6<\/td>714<\/td>912<\/td>27<\/td><\/tr>
Honshu Flare<\/td>95.1<\/td>675<\/td>564<\/td>25<\/td><\/tr>
Rile<\/td>92.3<\/td>616<\/td>65<\/td>25<\/td><\/tr>
Harley Flames<\/td>91.5<\/td>630<\/td>250<\/td>24<\/td><\/tr>
Burleigh<\/td>93.7<\/td>600<\/td>360<\/td>21<\/td><\/tr>
Hermet<\/td>92.5<\/td>606<\/td>1294<\/td>15<\/td><\/tr>
The Dragon King’s<\/td>91.1<\/td>570<\/td>611<\/td>13<\/td><\/tr>
Whingeing Pom<\/td>85.9<\/td>494<\/td>2494<\/td>6<\/td><\/tr>
Smelvin Returns<\/td>N\/A<\/td>364<\/td>3595<\/td>3<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

#1 Randy Rogers (The Mecca) 8\/1 : The move to the turf last time out proved to be the right<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2975,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=69903"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69958,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69903\/revisions\/69958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=69903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=69903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=69903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}