Thrilling Champions Day contests

CARD: 12 RACES, NUMBEROUS EXOTICS WITH R1-MILLION PICKING OFF THE PICK 6

- Jack Milner

The fields for Days 3 of the Championship were finalised yesterday and there will be a 12-race card for racing fans to savour at Turffontein on Saturday 29 March.

That will encompass three Jackpots, two BiPots, one Place Accumulator and a Pick 6 that will kick off with a R1 million carryover and the pool likely to reach R5 million.

Even more exciting is the fact that this is a Hong Kong World Pool event and bettors will be able to bet into international TAB pools without their bets having a negative impact on the payouts.

There are four Grade 1 races on the card, headed up by the R2-million Hong Kong Jockey Club World Pool Premier's Champions Challenge over 2000m at Turffontein, the others being the TAB SA Derby over 2450m, the TAB Computaform Sprint over 1000m and the TAB Empress Club Stakes for fillies and mares over 1600m.

Also on the card are four Grade 2 races - the Wilgerbosdrift Bridget Oppenheimer SA Oaks for three-year-old fillies over 2450m, the Hawaii Stakes over 1400m as well as the SA Nursery and SA Fillies Nursery, both over 1160m.

There are 11 runners carded for the Champions Challenge and it sees the return of last year's winner Royal Victory.

Trained in KwaZulu-Natal by Nathan Kotzen, Royal Victory, a five-year-old Pathfork gelding, has run his best races on the Turffontein Standside track and last season won both the Betway Summer Cup and the Champions Challenge.

Muzi Yeni, who rode him to victory in both of those races but was out of action with an injury for this season's Summer Cup will be back in irons for this event.

He did disappoint in his warm-up race but he was probably in need of the race and will improve on that run.

An interesting runner is three-year-old Fire Attack from the Alec Laird yard and he will have the services of champion jockey Richard Fourie.

With just 55.5kg on his back he should be a contender for top honours.