Keagan De Melo couldn’t have scripted a more inviting homecoming. Stepping back onto South African soil after his stint in Hong Kong, he immediately picks up the ride on one of the country’s brightest young stars — Golden Palm, last season’s champion two-year-old filly — for Saturday’s G1 Cape Fillies Guineas.

Now a three-year-old based in Gqeberha, Golden Palm returned to action in October and demolished her Fairview field by 6.75 lengths, picking up exactly where she left off. Every one of her five career victories, including the G1 Thekwini Stakes, came under Richard Fourie, but Fourie’s obligations to sponsors have opened the door for De Melo to step in.

Fourie won’t be idle on the day — he partners Reet Petite in the Guineas and later teams up with trainer Alan Greeff in the G3 Southern Cross Stakes aboard the unbeaten sprint star Direct Hit, last season’s G1 Allan Robertson winner.

For De Melo, the chance is both timely and tantalising: a top-class filly, one of the year’s biggest fillies’ races and the opportunity to mark his return with a headline-making ride. It’s the kind of set-up that reads like a fairytale return — if the script falls his way.