Sugar Mountain to stand tall

THE evergreen 6yo Silvano gelding, Sugar Mountain, bounced back to form last month with an excellent win over 1400m and Candice Bass-Robinson’s charge look set to follow up in this afternoon’s R200 000 Winter Mile over 1600m. Stable jockey Aldo Domeyer retains the ride, and victory today will elevate Sugar Mountain to “millionaire” status. He has won 9 races over a career spanning 34 starts and has always been one of the stable’s favourite campaigners.

- GRAEME HAWKINS

Gem King

Gem King is an interesting runner. Piet Steyn’s 6yo Master Of My Fate gelding comes into the race with very good recent sprint form, but earlier in his career Gem King won both the 1600m Variety Club Mile (Gr3) and the 1800m Legal Eagle Stakes (Gr3) and from pole position may prove the biggest danger to Sugar Mountain. Corne Orffer has recorded two victories aboard Gem King this year and is once again in the saddle. Two runs back Gem King accounted for subsequent Golden Horse Sprint winner, Tenango, before finishing runner-up behind the same horse in his most recent outing in April. There’s no questioning the quality of his form and given his history, there is no reason why he should not be ultra-competitive today.