Trained by Bridget Stidolph, Raffles won the $ 50,000 Castle Tankard on the 11th of May, and his many supporters will be hoping he can win another Grade 1 event at Borrowdale Park on Saturday when he faces 14 rivals in the $80,000 OK Grand Challenge over 1800m.

The Castle Tankard is raced over 2000m but few of Saturday’s runners will be bothered by a shorter trip.

Raffles, by Time Thief (AUS), is a four-year-old formerly trained by Roy Magner in Gauteng, for whom he won two races. The gelding won his first start for the Stidolph yard on the 21st of April, and followed up by winning the 2000m Castle Tankard on the 11th of May, finishing 3 lengths clear of Majestic Warrior who was receiving 6 kgs. Wantage and Ideal View ran third and fourth respectively.

On Tankard Day Wantage received 3.5 kgs from Raffles while Ideal View was giving the winner one kilogram. All of Majestic Warrior, Wantage, and Ideal View, meet Raffles on better terms on Saturday, but Raffles has the better draw.

Another OK runner attracting considerable interest is Jaeger Moon (above) a six-year-old gelding by Capetown Noir who won the 2400m East Cape Derby, and the 1800m East Cape Guineas at Fairview in 2021. He has won 9 races from 1600m to 2400m.

His first and only start at Borrowdale was on the 26th of May when carrying 60.5 kgs, he beat Tigers Eagle (54 kgs) by 1.75 lengths in an 1800m MR 90 Handicap. Before joining the Swanson yard Jaeger Moon was trained by Gavin Smith, and it will be interesting to see how he fares against some of Borrowdale’s best.

The field also includes the champion three-year-old Buster Barnes, who carries 52 kgs but is drawn fairly wide, and several others who could make the ‘favourites ’ pick up their heels.

When trying to predict the likely winner of these big races I am perhaps overly cautious because I have learned the hard way to be prepared to be surprised. The only certainty is that we are in for a great race.

Photographs by Zimbabwe Equine News & Chase Liebenberg