This Saturday is the Summer Cup.  It is one of South Africa’s big three races and the other two include the July Handicap and the Met.  This is the third consecutive year that Master Sabina has made the field, confirming that he is one of the top horses in South Africa.  Two years ago he came a very narrow second and last year, a few days before the race for which he was second favourite he got injured.  It was a huge blow to me and he has basically been off for a year until a run a few weeks ago where he came fourth in the warm-up race.  

He was drawn well at 7, he is well weighted and he will give me a good chance to once again try and win the Summer Cup.  The course, Turffontein, certainly suits him and hopefully he will have luck in running.  The one big worry that I have, and why I cannot be that confident, is that a lot of people talk about the ‘second run after a rest syndrome’ and essentially this is his second run after one year off.  In a second run after a rest a horse often runs a flat race, and does not put in as much effort as he or she does in the first or third race after a rest and normally a horse is at its very peak, when coming back from a rest in its third start.  It is one thing to be short of your very best when you are up against moderate opposition, but when you are racing most of the best horses in the country that may just be enough to find him out.  His next target will be the Met, but I am hoping, given that his mother, Sabina Park – my first racehorse - ran twice in the Summer Cup, that its second time lucky for Master Sabina this year.  Yes, he has been in the field three times, but he never actually ran last year due to the injury.