It is a huge weekend for me in terms of my horses this weekend.  Not necessarily huge races – in fact, they are not, but a number of my horses who have not run while returning from injuries have races and others are being put in top class fields for the first time.  In other words, it is a weekend where I am really hoping to see some positive signs from a number of horses. Do You Remember, who came third in the July Handicap in 2013 and has not run since January 2014, will be making her debut in Australia on Saturday.  

Also on Saturday, returning from an injury after 11 months of racing, is Master Sabina.  He ran second in the 2013 Summer Cup and this is going to be his first run after a severe injury, so we hope he pulls through it and does well enough to qualify for this year’s Summer Cup.  He was the second favourite for last year’s Summer Cup when he had to be pulled out of the race and I really thought it was going to be my time to win that race, so that was a huge blow and I just hope that he has recovered well.  Also on Saturday in the Cape, I have an up and coming horse by the name of Baritone running.  He came second in his first race and has won the next three in a row and he is coming up against a lot of good horses and he is carrying more weight than any of them.  If he wins, he will probably be the favourite for the Cape Guineas.  So far, he has not put a foot wrong, he is looking like he really could be something very special and this is his first big test.  If that is not enough, and I really don’t have runners often for many weeks at a time, but this weekend I have four.  I have Masterly running in Port Elizabeth on Sunday.  Masterly did not do well when he was in Johannesburg, but since he got to Port Elizabeth, he has been a breath of fresh air, having now won four races in a row, but once again, for the first time, he is meeting very serious opposition, including some highly rated horses that are travelling from the Cape to race in what is quite an important race in Port Elizabeth, the Algoa Cup which is a Grade 3 race.  They all have different hurdles to overcome and it is not easy for a horse to return to racing after 21 months like Do You Remember, who during that time had to get to Australia via Mauritius, then France and the UK as well as Master Sabina who will obviously be nursing an injury.  I would have the least expectations for Do You Remember who is running over a distance that does not suit her and after such a lengthy break, so the pressure is probably mostly on Master Sabina and Baritone for Saturday.  Either way, it is going to be interesting with my horses running in Melbourne, Australia, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth on Saturday and Sunday.  The first thing you hope for in racing, and the most important thing, is that they all pull through soundly and do not get injured.