FILLIES SET FOR 5-STAR SHOWDOWN

GGGAMING PRESENTS – FILLIES SET FOR 5-STAR SHOWDOWN
by Gary Lemke, supplied by GGGaming.bet

The week’s big news came on Thursday morning with the scratching of the crack filly War Of Athena from the Vodacom Durban July, writes Gary Lemke for GGGaming.
She had been allocated only 52kg for the big race to be run on 3 July, but has instead been pointed at the Garden Province Stakes, also a Grade 1 event, on the same day. There she will bump into the Justin Snaith-trained Captain’s Ransom and it pits two three-year-old star fillies against one another for a mouth-watering event.
One of the problems with racing in South Africa is that champions from different provinces don’t get to run against one another enough. Therefore, we don’t really get to know who the best sprinter is, the best miler, the best 2000m horse and the best stayer is.
By racing the best against the best is what racegoers like to see. It is also what will swell the betting pools as punters look to back their personal favourites.
Over the course of a season you don’t get to see the best Cape horses travel to Gauteng – a notable exception being Snaith taking to Joburg, and winning, the Computaform Sprint with Rio Querari – while the opposite applies.
Sure, there’s the July, the Cape Town Met and the Summer Cup, but all those feel like one-offs that highlight the three race centres’ seasons. So, seeing Captain’s Ransom and War Of Athena go against one another over a mile is going to get the juices flowing. The former has won 9 of 15 races and the latter 6 of 7 and both will be carrying 59kg. For what it’s worth, the bookies have Captain’s Ransom at 1-1 and War Of Athena at 5-2.
The Track and Ball Derby and Track and Ball Oaks headline Saturday’s card at Scottsville and often the winner of each race increases its chances of making the final field of the Vodacom Durban July. But here’s the thing: during the week Snaith declared jockeys for the July for four of his runners, while a fifth, Silver Host, would appear that he’s going to be withdrawn given he wasn’t given a rider.
However, he is favourite for Saturday’s Track and Ball Derby and should take a lot of beating in that race. Should he win on Saturday it will be interesting if Snaith gives him another glance, as he’d still carry only 53kg in the July as a four-year-old, which is how Belgarion won last year’s July.
Best bet of the weekend is probably Hasta Manana in the second race at Scottsville and a double with Illicit Kiss in the first race could make for spending money for the place accumulator and Pick Six.
Bass Racing, sponsored by GGGaming, have an imaginative concept whereby they created 100 shares of 1 percent to take up ownership in the juvenile filly Nippy Winter. The Centenary Syndicate has seen her race four times so far, and she’s been placed in all four starts.
However, she gets a golden opportunity to crack her maiden in the first race at Kenilworth on Saturday, a Work Riders’ Maiden Plate. She looks to be a worthy favourite and it could pay to take her in a win double with Crackin’ Rose, also from Bass Racing, in the third race.

Should be a great clash.