After the Gr 1 fare on display at last week's J & B Met meeting, the focus shifts to Turffontein (inside track) which has a bumper card of feature races on offer, albeit none of them above Gr 3 status. Don't be fooled by the official grading, though - all four races are genuinely interesting, with some exciting 3-year-olds carded to run and racing fans would be well advised to make the trip to the racecourse.

The Gr 3 Tony Ruffel Stakes over 1450m is the headline event in terms of prize money and promises to be a cracker of a race. Charles Laird sends out his high-powered pairing of Curved Ball and Galileo's Galaxy while Gary Alexander's promising Pierre Jourdan also takes his place and the battle between this trio of runners is a genuinely mouth-watering prospect.

Curved Ball was lauded by a number of observers as the best 3-year-old in the country after his eye-catching Dingaans win, where he kicked on late to deny the front-running Galileo's Galaxy. His next outing was somewhat less impressive as he only got home narrowly in the listed Sea Cottage Stakes over 1800m despite going off at 1/5. He's obviously still learning his trade, though, and one should not read too much into the narrowness of that last victory.

Whether he can confirm the Dingaans form with his stablemate is another story, though, as he is now 4kg worse off. Galileo's Galaxy went down to Cape Town to contest the Guineas and ran an honourable race in defeat, caught late by Noordhoek Flyer after once again trying to make all the running. The drop in trip and the inside track should play to his strengths as his natural speed will come into play. He should prove very difficult to catch here, especially under a handy 54kg.

Pierre Jourdan is a big runner on his impressive Ready To Run Cup win over 1400m on the standside track. He took a while to get going that day but once he found his stride, he quickened away in the style of a really good horse. He was touched off by Havasha next time out but that one is certainly no slouch as trainer Mike de Kock rates him highly enough to be taking on the older horses in the Wolf Power Handicap earlier in the day. One suspects that Pierre Jourdan may just battle to get to Galileo's Galaxy while conceding him 2kg at this sharp track but he should be involved in the finish.

The rest look outclassed apart from Bulsara who was touched off in the Gr 1 Premiers Champion Stakes before streaking home in the Graham Beck Stakes over 1400m. His Dingaans fop, next time out, looked just too bad to be true and he must enter the reckoning here on his best form.

The Tony Ruffel is preceded by the Gr 3 Three Troikas Stakes over the same distance and this race could also see a front-running victory. Fisani ran a great race in defeat when trying to make all the running from a hopeless draw in the Ready To Run Cup and was only run out of it late by Pierre Jourdan. She tired late when using similar tactics in the Fillies Mile at the end of November and while there's no guarantee that she will once again go to the front, those last two efforts did suggest that she will be very well suited to this particular course and distance.

There are some smart-looking fillies in the line-up with Fisani's stablemate Flirtation having recorded two easy victories from as many starts but already looking the sort who needs further than this.

The Charles Laird-trained Adorable chased home the ultra-promising Raihana second time out and has won both subsequent starts, including a victory over Valley Of Rubies who she meets again on identical terms here. She shows promise and has certainly given the impression that there is more to come.

Trainer Geoff Woodruff has endured an up-and-down season so far by his own high standards and he has entered Australian-bred Queen Mira who is unbeaten from three starts. A victory for the Guv'nor would be well received by the Turffontein crowd but Queen Mira has drawn badly, a real problem over this course and distance, and has to concede 2kg to her main rivals, so she faces a serious test here.

All Afire, another one with a wide draw, came back to form last time out when touched off by Valley Of Rubies in a Graduation Plate and she would rate a big threat if she can reproduce her juvenile form which saw her land the Gr 1 Golden Slipper. Valley Of Rubies meets All Afire on identical terms here and has a chance of confirming the form as she has a much better draw than her rival. It's worth noting that they both had Majorca Stakes winner Gluwein behind them in that race so the form doesn't look too shabby.

Cinnamon Sugar has won impressively in two starts over this trip on the sand but her turf form is nowhere near that level and along with the rest of the field, looks to have too much to do here.