Thoughts on Viva Madiba today

Viva Madiba runs in the 5.40 at Kempton today (Thursday 25th of September). Steve Drowne takes the ride in the six furlong maiden. We thought quite a bit of this filly in the spring, but she rather stupidly kicked the wall of her stable hard enough to have a hairline fracture which meant missing a good chunk of the season. Quite a compact filly some of the bigger horses will have caught her up by now but she has shown up reasonably well at home. In an ideal world she would have done a bit more work at home but as the season draws her to an end we are keen to get her on the track and learning so she has had a somewhat rushed preparation. She will come on for the run.

The race certainly doesn’t look the strongest maiden run at Kempton although beaten favourite at Catterick when last seen nearly three months ago it is difficult to see past Captain Marmalade of those who have run, the race was possibly not run to suit so it may be unreasonable to hold too much against him for that performance. Pomme De Guerre is probably the most suitably bred of the newcomers for a test such as this so could offer the greatest challenge.