Check www.interbet.co,za for full reports.
HORSE RACING
SUMMER CUP WEEKEND
The stats tell the story - Whilst training at Summerveld has been almost brought to its knees, rival facilities such as Clairwood, Ashburton and (pictured) Doug Campbell's Sugarhill Farm near Richmond, have been spared the drenching and currently hold a 50% advantage in winning strike rate.
Report for Greyville: Friday
Weather : Cloudy with rain
Rainfall : 24 hours=10mm, 7-days=14mm
Wind : moderate SE 10 knots
Temp : Min 20°C Max 23°C
Track conditions : Good
False Rail : 14m
Penetrometer : 20.0
Two KZN meetings again this week-end (Friday night Greyville + Sunday Scottsville) and the rain continues over Summerveld. Tracks are still soggy with the exception of the new track that’s just been laid on the far side of the grounds. A few of the trainers are using it but the sand still needs to compact/settle and the horses looked to be battling when I watched the workouts on Thursday morning. So the setbacks for these guys continue and from a punting perspective, preference for the other training facilities must remain in play again this week-end. To put things into perspective, just look at the statistics over the last 3 meetings; the ratio of wins per runner between [*Ashburton/Clairwood] and [Summerveld] is 3:2. This equates to runners from *Ashburton/Clairwood holding a 50% higher strike rate than their Summerveld counterparts!
For those of you who play numbers, some interesting ongoings in the first 3, and last 3 races of each KZN meeting for the period 26Nov - 03Dec (3 meetings in total) :
Races 7,8,9 for 3 consecutive meetings have all been won by *Ashburton/Clairwood trained horses, that's 9/9 and a 100% strike rate! In contrast, races 1,2,3 from the same 3 meetings produced 7/9 winners from Summerveld, a 78% strike rate to the other side! So where does that leave us for punting, well probably nowhere because it rained on and off all through last night, it's raining lightly this morning and it's forecast to continue through into the night. This casts some doubt as to whether the Greyville meeting will go ahead at all, but fortunately most of the local action happens at Scottsville on Sunday where the forecast looks far more promising. It's the KZN chapter challenge series and some competitive racing awaits, but first a few ‘Summerveld’ comments to pass on for Greyville tonight:
Floriana
Race 7 – No. 2 Floriana (5/2) – I spoke to Dennis Drier and he said they’ve managed to keep her fit and are expecting a good run. As mentioned in a previous article, she looks to be a decent up-and-coming filly and although there’s one or two to contend with here, she’s in with a big chance. Also in this race is Ami Amor (9/1 on Interbet) from the Dylan Cunha stable, they rate her highly and Candice (assistant trainer) said although she may be in need of it they’re expecting a big effort.
Race 6 – Staying with comments from the Cunha stable, No. 6 Rose Window (10/1) ran last week and he came through that race very well so he’s back again tonight. Although at the bottom of the betting boards he’s in with a bit of a chance in a field where the better horses seem unlikely to arrive fighting fit.
Race 8 - No trainer’s comment but a quick mention of No. 2 En Vogue (9/2) who looked very well last time and won accordingly. If she’s maintained condition since that run then a big runner again in this weak field.
Scottsville Sunday (no betting available at time of writing)
Race 4
No. 7 Badger’s Bomb - 'bliksem bet' of the week-end if at the right price! Anything better than 15/10 is value, keep an eye on Interbet and snap up the best prices available on the market. This colt has put up two very promising efforts in the maidens, both times pulling clear of the rest of the field when chasing the winner. This is one of the surest signs in racing that a win is imminent and in a small field he should be hard to beat. Fortunately there are others with equally good form (on paper) at first glance, so maybe we’ll get lucky in this regard with a decent price. Here’s to hoping!
Meet my Master
Race 5
No.1 Meet my Master - I spoke to jockey Karl-Z very briefly and he’s of the opinion that this horse is fit and well which puts him in with a serious chance against this mob.
No.2 Road to War is well according to Bennet and he’s hoping for a quartet finish.
No.6 Top Spot has looked picture perfect his last two starts and in view of his canter pasts and current form, there’s every indication that he’s peaking at the moment. Should go close again.
No.7 Bold Wonder - talented filly and takes on the boys here. Chance
Race 7
No.1 Henchman - Lloyd Lunn says he's stayed fit since his last run and is in with a winning chance. Also mentioned that he’s still learning and needs to settle before we see the best of him.
No.2 Lindenburg won a (3-way) tightly contested maiden last time out against 2 promising youngsters; subsequent winner Sculptor who shed his maiden tag at the Vaal next time out and also Badger’s Bomb (runs in race 4) who by the time this race rolls in, should've also shed his tag too. Watch for further improvement.
No.4 Borne Supreme is better than his form suggests and this is the type of race he can sneak in.
No.5 Gamesmanship - an impressive looking specimen who reportedly works up a storm at home but hasn’t brought it to the track in recent visits. Improvement expected
Race 3
No.9 Grenade – rated by stable and a big run expected.
No. 7 Triple Gem – Good improvement last time, will go close if repeats
Want to know if it's raining at Greyville? try one of Vodacom's strategically placed live-feed webcams to get the picture.
www.vodacom4me.co.za
Since we have the threat of rain constantly hanging over our heads in KZN at this time of year, a useful tool to get real-time weather pics can be found on
www.vodacom4me.co.za
Click on the ‘news and info’ link and then ‘cam-info’ and you’ll have access to various live webcam shots of places around the country. There’s 3 of them within a few kms of Greyville, use them to keep an eye on the weather as it unfolds.
Last Sunday I attended CJ Benjamin’s ‘Youth Crossfire gives back’ charity drive where food and basic necessities were distributed to poverty stricken communities in and around Durban. Gold Circle kindly donated R5000 to the project, bringing the total raised to almost R450k in goods value. 3x 8ton truckloads of beans, rice, samp, sugar, flour, oil, tinned foods, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, sanitary pads, Xmas goodie bags and school stationery packs were delivered to the areas of Trenance Park, Mount Vernon and Welbedacht. CJ Benjamin is 24years old and currently Standbank woman of the year; her talk-show 'Youth Crossfire' can be heard on LotusFM weekdays 15h00-16h00.
