Racing fans can look forward to double the excitement at the Fairview race track in Greenbushes on Friday.
Two feature races will be part of the meeting of eight races – one feature dominated by speed and with the other one stamina comes into play.
The speed will be on in the R175 000 Fairview Flying Five, a sprint over 1000m.
Top sprinter, Cruise Control, destroyed the opposition last year but will give the race a miss this time.
He is taking a break after his impressive fourth place against the best in the country in the Computaform Sprint in Johannesburg two weeks ago.
With Cruise not in the lineup, the race should be much more competitive this year.
The horses will certainly be flying down the long Fairview straight – something to look forward to.
In the other feature, the spotlight will be on the three-year-old fillies who will be tackling 2000m in the East Cape Oaks.
Joy and Peace won this race last year and went on to win the Derby to be crowned the East Cape Horse of the Season.
Now it is time for a new hero, and it will be very interesting to see who steps up to the plate.
This is also a race for fillies to test the water to see if they will be up for the challenge of going 2400m in the East Cape Derby on May 9.
There will also be Derby hopefuls in action in the Derby Plate over 2000m on Friday. If he takes his place in this race, all eyes will be on the Alan Greeff-trained My Best Shot.
The three-year-old gelding is set to give it the best shot in his endeavours to secure a bonus of R250 000 for his connections.
My Best Shot won the R250 000 East Cape Guineas over 1600m three weeks ago after his victory in the Ibhayi Stakes over 1400m in February.
These races were the first two legs of the East Cape Sophomore Challenge.
My Best Shot can secure that bonus of R250 000 if he can win the third and final leg of the Challenge, the R350 000 East Cape Derby.
It will be a huge step up in distance for My Best Shot, but the plan is to give it a go. There are indications in his breeding that suggest he can handle the distance.
No horse has been able to win all three legs of this Challenge. Last year Greeff went the same route with Fairy Knight. He won the first two legs but finished fourth in the Derby.
To win a Triple Crown in the Eastern Cape is no mean feat. King Regent won the Poly Challenge triple crown this season, and back in 2003 Stormy Appeal, trained by Gavin Smith, won all three legs of the Challenge for fillies and mares.
This past Friday it was another feature winner for the Greeff yard. Bournemouth won the Glenlair Trophy over the challenging distance of 2800m.
