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These are the days the punters live for, the big occasion where interest is high and Tote pools result in big dividends, writes Gary Lemke for GG Gaming.
Saturday sees the R2-million Gauteng Summer Cup contested over 2000m at Turffontein, but there’s something for everyone on the day. It’s like a couple of Powerball rollovers in the punting sense and the adage applies, “if you don’t have a ticket you can’t win”. These are also the days when you can go with your “gut feel”. That’s one of the beauties of racing and days like these often throw up unpredictable results. They tend to reduce tipsters like me to quivering wrecks by the end of the day, our egos and pre-meeting confidence popped like the proverbial balloon.
However, what it does allow is for everyone to have a say and hopefully win big. Go with your favourite name, for instance, or jockey, or even the silks that the jockey is wearing. Us tipsters will try to steer you in the right direction but the power is in your hands. With the Pick 6 pool expected to touch R12-million you simply have to take a percentage of the Pick 6.
There are six feature races on the 10-race card and there are a number of carryovers for you to work on your exotics, which include an estimated R4-million quartet pool in the main race, the aforementioned Gauteng Summer Cup.
The betting seems to suggest a three-way contest between GOT THE GREENLIGHT, MALMOOS and the star filly WAR OF ATHENA.
Money has poured on the filly who is now as short as 5-2 in the market, with MALMOOS easing to 4-1 and GOT THE GREENLIGHT out to 5-1. WAR OF ATHENA has won 10 of her 17 starts and it’s worth reminding that another super filly, SUMMER PUDDING, won this race last year, so don’t worry about those who say a filly can’t beat the colts.
All three of those big guns have draws that will get them into the race, but there’s much to like about WAR OF ATHENA who receives 1.5kg from MALMOOS and 2.5kg from GOT THE GREENLIGHT. The latter is ridden by Bernard Fayd'Herbe, who we pegged last week’s column on. He’s one of the best heavyweight riders in the country and has ridden this horse three times for two wins.
MALMOOS represents Mike de Kock’s yard, and he is made for big days like this.
Elsewhere, when trying to find an outsider for the back end of quartets, you might want to have a look at MAJESTIC MOZART, the former Bass Racing-trained six-year-old. He was always a length or two of the best when racing in the Cape but made an eye-catching debut for new trainer Ashley Fortune over the Turffontein mile in his last start and carries 54kg.
On these big days, I also run my finger down the trainers’ entries and Sean Tarry always brings his A-game. He has four runners, but surprisingly his shortest-priced is the 25-1 shot SHANGO. Be sure to include him at the back end of your quartets, and possibly the 35-1 outsider SEEHAAM, who has Grant van Niekerk in the saddle.
The card is, as one would expect, tricky to say the least. The shortest-priced favourites come in the first three races, which doesn’t help punters with their Pick 6 perms, given that exotic starts in race four. Most punters look for a banker or two, so RAIN IN HOLLAND (race seven) and WAR OF ATHENA (race eight) will probably be two popular choices. PYROMANIAC might also fit the banker bill in the sixth race, the the Dingaans over 1600m.
But it’s one of those days where you are in the driver’s seat. Don’t be shy to go with a favourite number or a name that jumps off the page. Horses don’t know what odds they are and on big race days like these everyone is trying to be part of race day history.
To have a Pick 6 interest, I am going to have a percentage of this:
5,7,9,10,11 x 2,4,10,13,14 x 1,2 x 8,9,10 x 2,3 x 3,6,7,9 x 1,7,11,12,13. One percent costs R60.