ONE of the strongest fields ever assembled for the Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile will face the starter over 1600m at Turffontein on Saturday, 2 November.

No less than six Grade 1 winners are among the final 16 runners for this R600,000 race and to back them up are a others who have placed in Grade 1 events.

Topping the field is SA Derby winner Wylie Hall, who will be ridden by S’manga Khumalo. Wylie Hall carries top weight and proved his fitness with a 0.50-length victory over Whiteline Fever in a Pinnacle Stakes over 1400m last week.

Link Man.

Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara winner Cherry On The Top ran third in that race, beaten 0.75 lengths and she will have come on a lot from that outing. She had not had a grass run and had come back from a four-month break so she will improve markedly.

The Ormond Ferraris-trained runner will team up with jockey Piere Strydom for the first time and the good news for the yard is that she will jump from barrier No 2.

The other Grade 1 winners in the field are Link Man, Potala Palace, Wagner and Love Struck. Whiteline Fever and Tellina have both placed in Grade 1 races.      

Geoff Woodruff nominated five runners and three have made the final field – Grade 2 Gauteng Guineas winner Tellina, Yorker and Killua Castle. Sadly Tellina will have to jump from barrier No 14 but Yorker drew well at No 4 and Killua will jump from pole position.

There was bad news as well for Port Elizabeth contender Celtic Fire who drew widest off all at No 19, although he will come in three spots when the reserve runners come out.  

The Charity Mile is a unique race in which each of the runners also races on behalf of a charity. Each horse is represented by a celebrity and R550,000 is shared between the 16 charities with R100,00 for first. No charity goes home empty-handed and those represented by the last five home each get R20,000.     

Final field for the R600,000 Peermont Emperors Palace Charity Mile (Grade 2) to be over 1600m at Turffontein on Saturday 2 November.

1 – 7 WYLIE HALL (W H Marwing) S Khumalo 60.0 – 119
2 – 2 CHERRY ON THE TOP (O A Ferraris) P Strydom 59.5 – 118
3 – 6 WHITELINE FEVER (S G Tarry)  …………… 59.5 – 118
4 – 12 LINK MAN (M F De Kock) A Delpech 57.0 – 113
5 – 8 ROYAL ZULU WARRIOR (K Naidoo) K Zechner 55.5 – 110
6 – 14 TELLINA (G V Woodruff) R Fradd 55.0 – 109
7 – 19 CELTIC FIRE (Y Bremner) M Yeni 54.5 – 108
8 – 13 POTALA PALACE (M G Azzie) G Lerena 54.5 – 108
9 – 4 YORKER (G V Woodruff) A Marcus 54.5 – 108
10 – 15 LOVE STRUCK (C Laird) G Cheyne 53.5 – 106
11 – 11 WAGNER (J A Soma) S Cormack 53.0 – 105
12 – 5 GLORIOUS JET (S J Gray) K de Melo 52.5 – 104
13 – 16 HERE COMES BILLY (W H Marwing)  …………… 52.5 – 104
14 – 17 MOON OF RANGOON (G H Van Zyl) G Hatt 52.5 – 104
15 – 1 KILLUA CASTLE (G V Woodruff) R Fourie 52.0 – 102
16 – 3 WAR HORSE (C Spies) M V’Rensburg 52.0 – 102

Reserve Runners

17 – 9 TIGER’S RETREAT (S G Tarry) Reserve 1 52.0 – 102
18 – 18 BARACAH (S G Tarry) Reserve 2 52.0 – 102
19 – 10 DEPARDIEU (F C De Beer) Reserve 3 54.0 – 105

Same Trainer: (1,13) (3,17,18) (6,9,15)