Gold Circle Pty (Ltd)

Today's Racing :

Valley of Rubies to show her worth

Andrew Harrison
Trainer Ernie Anderson cannot be described as one of the big hitters in Highveld racing but the Turffontein trainer has been around a while and goes quietly about his business.
He finished up with 12 winners last season but the current season reflects a 33% winning strike rate with two winners from just six runners.
Anderson’s strike rate may take a dip at the Turffontein inner track on Saturday where he sends out six runners, but his winning tally could edge up when he saddles top weight Valley Of Rubies in the BHP Billiton Handicap, seventh race on the card.
A daughter of the Storm Cat stallion Mogok, Valley Of Rubies is set to give lumps of weight all round but does boast a touch of class that could be enough to see her home. She was returning from a lengthy break when 10 lengths back to Tree Of Perfection at her most recent outing but prior to that had shown that she was not out of place in feature company.
She came within an ace of landing the Sycamore Stakes when just failing to catch Smangaliso and was not too far behind Captain’s Gal in the Camellia Stakes before being given a well earned break.
The pipe-opener should have blown away some of the cobwebs and with Andrew Fortune taking over in the saddle one could not ask for a better rider to coax home the top weight.
However, like most handicap races, the event looks fairly wide open and with a Pick 6 pool expected to top R3,5 million, exotic bet punters would be well advised to add a few more to this leg.
Piere Strydom has struck up a good rapport with the Barden Botes’s-trained Delightful Diva who should be included in all bets along with Mgede, from a resurgent Geoff Woodruff yard. With a number of tricky races in the Pick 6 line-up, a banker or two would not go amiss and the Paul Matchette-trained Mary Lou should fit the bill in the eighth where she contests a Graduation Plate over 1 000m. Since hacking up in the Swallow Stakes back in January, Mary Lou has been banging at the door in feature company but has just not been able to to kind the key to the winner’s enclosure. It has been close at times, as her half-length second to Grade 1 winner Captains Gal confirmed in the Camellia Stakes.
With very little else on the horizon as far as feature races go, Matchette has opted to drop Mary Lou back to Plate company and fit and well she should take a power of beating. Officer Class faces a more daunting hurdle in the sixth, a Handicap sprint over 1 200m but the Captain Al gelding has been in top form at recent outings.
He ran out a very comfortable winner of his most recent start with Strydom taking it rather easy over the final furlong and with a good inside draw, should beat more home than beats him. In fact he could finish ahead of the pack.

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