YOUNG gun Perana, who scored an unbelievable win in the Grade 2 Victory Moon Stakes at Turffontein last Friday night, made the final field for the R2-million Sansui Summer Cup (Grade 1) to be run over 2000m at Turffontein on Saturday 27 November.  Anthony Delpech retains the ride.

He will need to be a champion if he is to do well in the Summer Cup because no three-year-old has won the race since it was re-introduced in its traditional format in 1999.

Anthony Delpech, to partner Perana.

Perana is obviously a smart individual and De Kock is the dominant trainer in the Summer Cup, having won it five times in the last decade and eight times in total. The champion trainer would not be running Perana, who he describes as “coltish and naughty”, if he did not believe the colt could win Joburg’s final Grade 1 race this year.

The youngest horse in the field, he is one of six horses from the De Kock stable. Other runners from the yard include Mother Russia, who will meet Perana on 1kg better terms, and Alderry, who beat a hot field in the Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile this month. Alderry has been penalised five points (2.5kg) for that win and will meet most of her Charity Mile victims on worse terms, including runner-up Thandolwami (2kg better off), third-placed Pierre Jourdan (2.5kg better off) and fourth-placed Bulsara (2.5kg better off).

De Kock’s Rudra, who ran well below his best in the Charity Mile, and Gary Alexander’s star Pierre Jourdan have been given joint topweight of 60kg.

Rudra, victorious in the race in 2008, is one of two past winners in the line-up – the other being last year’s Cup hero Aslan.

Pierre Jourdan was favourite for the Charity Mile but ran arguably his worst race to date. However, that was his second run after a layoff and many will expect the talented son of Parade Leader to do much better in the big one.

Three visitors are in the field, including Cape-based trainer Joey Ramsden’s Hawk’s Eye. The five-year-old has been based in KwaZulu-Natal and last time out journeyed to Port Elizabeth to win the Algoa Cup over 2000m at Fairview. KZN handler Neil Bruss will bring rejuvenated Zimbabwe champion Winter’s Night to the Highveld for the big race and Craig Eudey’s Thandolwami was due to remain with Alec Laird after the Charity Mile.

 The final field, with draws, trainers, jockeys and weights, for the R2-million Sansui Summer Cup (Grade 2) over 2000m is:

1 – 13 PIERRE JOURDAN (G M Alexander) A Fortune 60.0 – 112
2 – 15 RUDRA (M F De Kock) M Mienie 60.0 – 111
3 – 12 MOTHER RUSSIA (M F De Kock) K Shea 59.0 – 109
4 – 16 GALANTHUS (T Zackey)  S Khumalo  57.5 – 107
5 – 18 SERVICE ACE (M G Azzie) G Lerena 57.5 – 107
6 – 1  BULSARA (G H Van Zyl) R Danielson 57.0 – 106
7 – 7  CAPTAIN SCOTT (A G Laird) F Herholdt 57.0 – 105
8 – 5  ZIRCONEUM (M F De Kock) G Figueroa 57.0 – 105
9 – 8  ALUMINIUM (G V Woodruff) D David 56.5 – 104
10 -9 ALDERRY (M F De Kock) M Yeni 56.0 – 104
11 -10 ASLAN (S G Tarry) P Strydom 56.0 – 103
12 -11 HAWK’S EYE (J Ramsden) M Winnaar 56.0 – 103
13 – 2 CRACKER JACK (G V Woodruff) D Mansour 55.5 – 103
14 – 3 WINTER’S NIGHT (N L Bruss) D Daniels 55.0 – 102
15 -20 THANDOLWAMI (C Eudey) B Lerena 54.5 – 100
16 -17 FLIRTATION (M F De Kock) R Simons 54.0 – 100
17 – 6 RUDI ROCKS (C Laird) A Marcus 54.0 – 99
18 -14 PERANA (M F De Kock) A Delpech 52.0 – 102

Reserve Runners
19 – 19 POWER PARK (S G Tarry) Reserve 1 52.0 – 93 20 – 4 VERTICAL TAKEOFF (S G Tarry) Reserve 2 54.5 – 100 Coupled for Pick 6 ONLY: (2, 3, 8, 10, 16, 18); (9, 13); (11, 19, 20).