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The Gary Alexander yard have lamented Pierre Jourdan's unfavourable draw and weight in the G1 Sansui Summer Cup on Saturday and consequently reckon The Apache may prove the horse to beat.
Photo by Gold Circle
Pierre Jourdan took well to the blinkers recommended by Douglas Whyte after his Vodacom Durban July second and they stay on despite his wide draw of 19.
“We will have to drop him out as it would be suicide to try and race wide up with the pace, especially with the weight he has to carry,” said Dean Alexander.
“He will have to come from off them, but if they go a decent gallop he will have a chance of making up the ground.
“He was only about 80% fit for his 1450m reappearance (won on September 17) and we didn't do much with him between that run and his Charity Mile win (November 5).
“The improvement was good and everything has gone very well in his prep but he is carrying an extra kg and then he got the bad draw.
“If you look at the July form The Apache should turn the tables. He is drawn in pole position and is 1kg better, so on paper he should beat us.
Alexander said a virus had plagued the yard earlier in the season.
“It's done its rounds, the majority of the horses are over it. The horses are much better overall than a couple of months ago and we are over the worst,” he said.
Pierre Jourdan's future after the Summer Cup will depend on how he takes his run and on the status of the export protocols as his owners are keen to campaign him abroad.
The Alexander family's only win in the Summer Cup came via father Duncan, who won it twice as a rider aboard Numeral in 1962 and Caradoc in 1966.
As trainers they went close with Drum Star, who finished second to El Picha in 1999.
The Summerhill-bred five-year-old Parade Leader gelding has certainly been one of the fairytale stories of recent times
Anton Marcus was disappointed when 2008 Summer Cup winner Rudra drew 20 as until that point he reckoned he had a very good ride in the big race.
Marcus has only ridden Rudra once and must have been impressed with his 4,25 length victory in April in a Pinnacle Stakes event over 1600m to agree to the ride on the Mike de Kock-trained gelding.
“He's a backmarker and on paper the race looks slightly void of the pace he will need from that draw,” said Marcus.
Rudra came from gate nine when won in 2008. Last year he finished fifth to stable companion Flirtation from draw 14.
Marcus also named The Apache as the horse to beat on Saturday.
“He appears to have everything in his favour,” he said.
In the G2 Merchants over 1160m Marcus is unable to make the weight for the unbeaten Charles Laird-trained Unannounced and rides the De Kock-trained Gibraltar Blue.
“Unannounced is a top class horse,” he said. “He has his work cut out but at the weights he definitely has a winning chance.
“Gibraltar Blue has a chance if she runs straight. She has a tendency to hang to the right.”
In the G2 Investec Dingaans Marcus rides the outsider Frontino Gold for De Kock.
Marcus also rides the De Kock-trained Combattitento, who won on debut but reckons the field he beat that day was weak.