A very wise – and certainly very wealthy – bookmaker once handed over a useful piece of advice.
“If you’re going to take a bet on an odds-on favourite, do so because it is a good horse, and not just the best horse in the race.”
In other words, it might be clever taking a short price about War Of Athena but beware of doing so in a Maiden Plate where a horse has run quite a few times and just continues to run lots of places.
That is the quandary for punters in Races 3 and 4 at the Vaal tomorrow. Sky Glitter in Race 3 and Quest From Afar in Race 4 fit into that category. Both have performed well enough but are still winless. However, the opposition in both events from those with exposed form looks decidedly moderate.
Sky Glitter has raced four times in KwaZulu-Natal and last time went off a 2-1 favourite over 1600m at Greyville but finished unplaced. She was not ridden out in the latter part of the race, but the vet could not detect anything untoward.
She has now joined Paul Peter’s yard in Gauteng and reverts to a race over 1200m. She clearly is showing something at home and if she has improved at her new environment, could be hard to beat.
Her main threat is likely to come from Yours Truly, a Vercingetorix debutante from the Sean Tarry yard.
Fortunately, TAB offers a Pick 6, and this is where bettors can get a runner for free. If one bankers Sky Glitter, even if a first-timer wins, as long as she is the first raced horse home, you will stay in the Pick 6.
Quest From Afar is from the Mike and Adam Azzie yard and they are probably a bit irked that this Querari filly has not won a race. She came from a layoff to contest a Maiden Plate at Kenilworth in December and faded to finish sixth. As long as the travelling has not taken too much out of her, she should be hard to beat and could be another banker, this time in the second leg of the Pick 6.
The rest of the card is tricky, but this will give punters the option of loading the last four legs of the Pick 6.
Hopefully, this will be one of the occasions when that wily and well-to-do bookie will be proved wrong.
Jack Milner’s selections
Race 1: 1 Coming In Hot, 2 Abayyaan, 4 Back To Basics, 3 Captain Persia
Race 2: 2 Invidia, 1 Bartholdi, 4 Mufasa, 5 Gallic Chief
Race 3: 1 Sky Glitter, 13 Yours Truly, 5 Petunia, 7 Angel’s Wish
Race 4: 4 Quest From Afar, 5 Maria’s World, 1 Kissed By Fire, 6 Crown Plaza
Race 5: 1 Duke Of Rain, 2 Gimme A Dream, 4 Gold Ambition, 13 Rattle Bag
Race 6: 1 Elusive Current, 10 Waqaas, 8 King’s Crusade, 2 Fantastical
Race 7: 12 Milan’s Princess, 1 Bella Chica, 3 Cold Fact, 10 Alabama Anna
Race 8: 1 Bathing Beauty, 7 Vuitton, 11 Samoa, 5 Gin And Tonic
Race 4 No 4 Quest From Afar
VALUE BET
Race 7 No 12 Milan’s Promise
BEST SWINGER
Race 1 1×2
tabonline.co.za – Jack Milner
