Coetzee aiming high with big team on Coronation Cup day
Talkingtalkingguru, Gold Plan look primed and poised to salute
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The Kevin Coetzee-trained Talkingtalkingguru (Saddam Saari) finishing in advance of Roger Roger (Ganeesh Munusamy) to win a Class 5A race (1,300m) at Ipoh at his last start on Oct 4. On his current form, the New Zealand-bred five-time winner looks well placed in the JRA Goodwill Trophy (1,200m), a Class 4A race slated as Race 3 in Ipoh on Nov 16.
PHOTO: HEW FEE KIT
Brian Miller
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With the bulk of the Selangor-based horses entered for the Coronation Cup meeting still to cross the border into Perak, trackwork on the morning of Nov 12 at Ipoh was mainly confined to its hometown team.
Invariably, one of them was led by leading trainer Kevin Coetzee.
The South African will not be represented in the two big races – the Coronation Cup and the Singapore Pools Trophy – coming up on Nov 16, but his horses look well positioned to give him a beautiful Sunday.
In total, he has 19 horses entered for the meeting, including a three-pronged attack in the JRA Goodwill Trophy (1,200m) which has been slotted in as Race 3.
Veterans Wecando and Snow Storm will contest the RM50,000 contest but Talkingtalkingguru could be the ace in his hand.
The five-time winner did a pretty decent gallop on the morning of Nov 11 when he clocked 39.8sec for the 600m, followed by some trotting early on Nov 12.
He gets into the sprint on the back on a race-to-race Ipoh double, having won a 1,400m race on Sept 20 and a 1,300m event on Oct 4.
The three on the trot will not be a walk in the park, though.
At 46 rating points, the Telperion five-year-old is dwarfed by rivals like Pacific MV, who is on 61 and Sea Water who took second at his last start.
But with just 52.5kg to shoulder as opposed to the 60kg which the top two will have to tote, Talkingtalkingguru will have a pull in the weights which might help his cause.
On the undercard, Coetzee could pull off a win with Gold Plan in the seventh event, the Class 5B (1,400m).
Owned by Coetzee like Talkingtalkingguru, Gold Plan galloped on the morning of Nov 11 and was sent for a good stretch-out on Nov 12.
To date, the Shooting To Win five-year-old has been a hard worker who has not had much luck. He has won two races but has been placed second on five occasions.
His last win was on March 15 when he led from pillar to post in a 1,400m race at Ipoh. Following that, he had 11 outings and in two of those races, he had to be content with playing second fiddle.
Like at his last start on Oct 19, when ridden by a three-kilo claimer, he lost out in a race over the 1,400m on Ipoh’s long course.
Gold Plan deserves a winning break and Coetzee will be hoping he goes one better this time.
