The Betway Summer Cup will bring a festive atmosphere to Turffontein racecourse on Saturday. (JC Photos).
Las Vegas – The Entertainment Mecca Of America – Comes To Turffontein Racecourse
David Mollett
Las Vegas – the renowned American entertainment resort – is coming to Turffontein racecourse on Saturday.
If one googles Las Vegas it states it is “primarily known for its gambling, shopping, fine dining, entertainment and nightlife.”
Four of that quintet will be on offer for the Betway Summer Cup meeting at the city track and lets look at this foursome.
Gambling: There’s an 11-race card with huge pools expected for the Pick 6 and jackpots and – to top it all – is the main race, the R6 million Betway Summer Cup, now the richest race in Africa.
The tote are dangling a big carrot in the Pick 6 with the pool starting with a carryover of R5 million.
Fine Dining: The various restaurants have been taking bookings for the last three months and the chefs will be doing their best to ensure they serve up quality food with prompt service.
Entertainment: Over the years, Las Vegas has hosted notable stars such as Frank Sinatra, Dianna Ross, Madonna and Michael Jackson, but somehow 4Racing has managed to sign up some of the biggest musical names in the country.
Nightlife: Now these artists will be on stage late into the night so this will have been noted by the younger generation who will have had November 30 diarised for some time. Just to make sure they realise what’s on offer, the superb promo song “City Lights” has been advertising the meeting on many TV channels.
Hosted by Zweli Mbhele, the epic after-party will be headlined by Mia Casa with supporting artists Ricky Tyler, Gigi, Ms Cosmo as well as the FunkItUpDJs.
Betway’s Jonathan Blumberg will be more than happy with the work 4Racing has done to make this a memorable day and the grooms of the 20 runners will certainly be toasting the sponsors. It doesn’t matter where their horses finishes, they will each receive R20 000.
So lets get to the nitty gritty – who is going to win?
Luckily, I am in possession of an antepost bet with my longtime bookie friend, Lance Michael. The first leg won at Haydock Park and the second leg is Silver Sanctuary who bids to give Mike De Kock a 10th Cup success.
Reading Charl Pretorius’ 4Racing column, I am pleased to learn that both Betway’s Jonathan Blumberg as well as Kevin Bakos share my enthusiasm for the daughter of Silvano.
My second choice, Alec Laird’s runner, Atticus Finch may raise a few eyebrows, it’s his third run this term for the 2023 Victory Moon winner so he should be cherryripe to leave his disappointing effort 12 months ago a thing of the past.
One man who really knows his oats in racing is 4Racing COO, Colin Gordon, and I have to admit he caught me by surprise in opting for Sean Tarry’s representative, Hotaburi. “Betway’s 36-1 is huge value,” commented Colin. I will now include the four year-old in my quartet.
Selwyn Elk felt that Purple Pitcher was “the roughie in the pack” but expected the favourite, See It Again, to shorten to around “5-2 or shorter” come race time.
“Striker” will be happy with the draw and Johnny G got it right when stating recently “Piere is like a good red wine – maturing with age.”
I’ll forgive my longtime media colleague, Mr Pretorius, for not asking for my tip, but he also didn’t give his own which is a pity. He has tipped a number of big race winners in his many years in the sport.
However, the one tipster whose advice I want to get before finalising my exotic bets is Daryll Maree. The “Weighted-To-Win” expert sometimes comes up with a horse not immediately on the radar.
It is good news that “Weighted-To-Win” will be aired from the track, but many punters will want to get their bets organised by Friday night so perhaps it would be a good idea for 4Racing to show Daryll’s tip (and Clyde’s!) 24 hours before the gates open.
As far as I can detect, there’s not many tipsters in the corner of Oisin Murphy’s mount, Frances Ethel. One knowledgeable gent certain to be supporting the filly is former owner, Grant Knowles. I watch Murphy in action in the UK almost daily and the Crawford inmate has to be included in all exotic bets.
The quartet is always the bet to play in big races and here are two I’ll be taking.
1. Double float 13 and 16 (Silver Sanctuary and Atticus Finch) with 1,2,3,4,5,8,9,10,11 and 14. Cost R216 for 20%.
2. Double float 13 and 9 (Silver Sanctuary and Frances Ethel) with 1,2,3,4,5,8,10,11,14 and 16. Cost R216 for 20%.
