St. Cloud has been selected to win race 7 (Pauline Herman Photography)
By Henk Steenkamp
The second half of the East Cape Racing season starts on Friday with a Fairview Turf meeting where the fillies and mares will be in the spotlight.
There is no feature race but amongst the eight races are some interesting clashes involving very capable fillies and mares.
One of these races is the Racehorse Owners Association (ROA) FM 96 Handicap over 1400m. It is race four at 14:25 and the first leg of the first Jackpot.
It is a smallish field of nine runners but there is quality on display. Pinnacle (Gavin Smith), Definitely Maybe (Alan Greeff) and Rose Of Bayeux should fight it out for the win.
Cheré For Me (Jacques Strydom), Sister Light, Easy Living (both Smith) and Chroniclesofnania (Tara Laing) are all capable of causing the upset and are horses to consider for your wider bets.
The meeting starts with a Maiden Plate for fillies and mares at 12:40. This race over 1000m looks like a little bit of a tricky start to the Bipot.
In the second race at 13:15 the fillies and mares are at it again in a Maiden Plate, this time over 1400m.
The Kelly Mitchley stable has a strong hand here in the first leg of the Place Accumulator with Sea Of Tears and Kitty Mo.
The Pick Six starts with race three at 13:50 with an Open Maiden over 1400m and the race does indeed look very open.
In the first three races ROA bonuses are up for grabs to add more spice to the contests.
They are followed by that first leg of the first Jackpot which could well be the race of the day.
In the first leg of the second Jackpot, race five at 15:00, some very speedy fillies and mares will tackle a FM 78 Handicap over 1000m.
The filly Rose For Trippi (Mitchley) and the mare European Summer (Emmanuel Kaknis) take on the boys over 1000m in the sixth race at 15:40. They must be included in all your bets, although it is a very competitive race.
Race seven is a Classified Stakes over 1900m and again there is a filly, this time St Cloud (Greeff), who has a good chance of beating the boys.
She gets the sex allowance of 2.5kgs and could fight it out for the win with the sixth-year-old gelding Ellis Island (Mitchley).
The eighth and last is always an open race at Fairview but Sequoia (Tara Laing) is a must for your bets.