Splittheeights and Hazy Dazy in the spotlight

Plenty of action at Turffontein. Picture: Michel Bega / The Citizen There are two new names for racing fans to conjure with: Splitheeights and Hazy Dazy. The colt and filly won the TAB Gauteng Guineas and the Wilgebosdrift Gauteng Fillies Guineas respectively at Turffontein on Saturday – the first legs of the Triple Crown and Triple Tiara respectively – and set themselves apart from their three-year-old counterparts.

A Guineas race is always a “race of truth” as it is a reckoning for young horses who have shown promise but haven’t yet been fully tested against the best of their generation and are often stepping up to the mile distance after youthful sprinting success. A 1600m Guineas takes students of thoroughbred bloodlines and precocious form a giant leap closer to the holy grail: identification of an emergent champion. Racing is never cut and dried, however.

Where’s the fun in that? Even after Gauteng’s iteration of the Guineas, there’ll be plenty of rival claimants to the throne of sophomore supremo. We are just a little closer to separating the wheat from the chaff.

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For now, Splitheeights and Hazy Dazy are front and centre – the only possible winners of those prestigious Triples. There seems little doubt that Hazy Dazy will take on the challenge – but Splittheeights might conceivably go a different route to glory. The Mike and Mathew de Kock stable have a mighty powerful string of three-year-olds, including three other runners in Saturday’s event who might be better suited than Splittheeights to the longer trips of the next two Triple Crown legs, the 2800m SA Classic and the 2450m SA Derby.

The interests of different owners and individual horses must be carefully weighed up. The De Kocks also have Cape Guineas winner Jan Van Goyen in their arsenal and might see the rich Highveld contests as key pieces in that special colt’s further development. Of course, the R2-million bonus prize for winning the Triple Crown will be a compelling factor in all stable deliberations.

Trainer Corne Spies was unequivocal about Hazy Dazy tackling Legs 2 and 3 of the Tiara. “We were a bit worried that the mile would be a bit too short for her!” he exclaimed, adding that the trip and a wide draw had been the only factors stopping him declaring her unbeatable in the Gauteng Fillies Guineas.

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