Find happiness at Vaal

FORM: CHASING HAPPINESS WELL WEIGHTED TO WIN PINNACLE STAKES

- Jack Milner

The seasons go round and round in the circle game, wrote singer/songwriter Joni Mitchell and horseracing fans will be witness to those comments at the Vaal tomorrow.

Topping the eight-race card is a Pinnacle Stakes over 1200m and many of the runners will be shaking off the cobwebs of last season’s feature races as they begin their preparations for the upcoming summer season on the Highveld.

All of Lucky Lad, Pistol Pete, Elegant Ice, Chasing Happiness, Dantonfromsandton and Minogue will be having their first races of the season in Race 6, with all of them preparing for their upcoming programme.

There is little doubt Lucky Lad is the best-performed runner in the field but he will be having his first outing since running a 1.90-length fifth behind William Robertson in the Grade 1 Computaform Sprint over 1000m at Turffontein on 29 March.

He missed the entire KwaZulu-Natal winter season but clearly is well enough to be a force in the upcoming season.

Sean Tarry’s charge is a winner of two Grade 1 and two Grade 2 races but has not won since July 2024. Craig Zackey will be taking the ride and Lucky Lad will have 62kg to shoulder.