Two past winners of the R2-million Champions Challenge, Smart Banker and Eddington, have been entered for this year's weight-for-age race over 2000m at Turffontein on Saturday 24 April. Smart Banker won last year's renewal by a head from Geoff Woodruff's Aluminium after the two fought out a ding-dong battle from halfway down the straight.
Smart Banker has won three of his six subsequent starts, while Aluminium has been out of action since July last year. Eddington took the 2008 renewal as a three-year-old in the slush and then went wrong. Sidelined for more than a year, he has not shaped in three runs so far this season. Smart Banker is trained by ruling champion trainer Charles Laird, who has won the race twice since it was introduced four years ago and who also entered Oracy, Dan De Lago, Eight Street and Crown Of Power.
Oracy has not won above Grade 2 level but looked something special after winning his first five career starts. More recently he fluffed his lines behind Aslan in the Sansui Summer Cup, beat Captain Scott in the G3 London News Handicap and then ran reasonably well in finishing only 3.35 lengths behind River Jetez from a wide draw in the J&B Met at Kenilworth where both Mother Russia (second) and Smart Banker finished ahead of him.
Dan De Lago won last season's Gold Circle Derby but has only won once since, though he was considered by many experts a trifle unlucky in the Met becAUSe he started slowly. Eight Street won the G2 Victory Moon Handicap but was well beaten by Aslan in the Summer Cup over the Champions Challenge course and distance, while Crown Of Power finished second-last in this race last year and has better form on the sand. Mother Russia, who has won three Grade 1 races so far, and Rudra are the two horses entered by red-hot trainer Mike de Kock.
Mother Russia, of course, won both the Paddock Stakes at Kenilworth in January and last Sunday's Empress Club Stakes with a close second in the Met sandwiched between those runs. Rudra is the top-rated horse in the list of entries. He won the 2008 Summer Cup and was not seen in action again until last month when winning the 1600m Wolf Power Handicap. He is coming on the right way and will have many supporters if he lines up in the Champions Challenge.
Second entries are on 29 March with third nominations on 13 April when the weights and draws will be announced. The final field will be announced on 15 April. The Champions Challenge is one of eight feature races on Champions Day.
The others are the SA Derby, SA Oaks, Computaform Sprint, The Nursery, Fillies Nursery, Gold Bowl and Camellia Stakes. Entries with trainers and current merit ratings for the R2-million Champions Challenge (Grade 1, weight-for-age) over 2000m:
RUDRA (M F De Kock) 113
ORACY (C Laird) 110
SMART BANKER (C Laird) 110
BUY AND SELL (S G Tarry) 108
DAN DE LAGO (C Laird) 108
EIGHT STREET (C Laird) 107
MOTHER RUSSIA (M F De Kock) 106
ALUMINIUM (G V Woodruff) 103
CAPTAIN SCOTT (A G Laird) 102
PRESTIC (G H Van Zyl) 102
STRAIGHT FORWARD (D Zaki) 102
EDDINGTON (D Zaki) 100
BOUQUET-GARNI (G H Van Zyl) 99
CROWN OF POWER (C Laird) 97
KILLARIDGE (W H Marwing) 94
REGAL RANSOM (S G Tarry) 93
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