Miss Varlicious is relatively lightly raced, having had only seven starts, but she has hardly missed a beat, earning a stakes cheque on every occasion and that trend could continue in the fifth at Greyville tomorrow. Paul Gadsby’s runner comes off a comfortable victory at Scottsville, the third of her career, but she faces a useful field and victory could be hard-fought.

Apart from her debut on the Greyville poly where she finished second to the speedy but temperamental Regardstobroadway, Miss Varlicious has raced exclusively at Scottsville with all except her last race being over 1000m. The step up in trip last time out did not faze her and she romped home ahead of Chestnuts N Pearls. It was a strong conditions race field but the win was tempered by the fact that she only had 48kg to shoulder.

Miss Varlicious (Nkosi Hlophe)

Tomorrow she has been lumped with 64kg but Eric Ngwane is back aboard and she takes 4kg relief which puts her in very favourably again. Miss Varlicious has already shown that she acts on the poly and given her recent form and the fact that most of the serious opposition would probably prefer it a tough further she should be difficult to beat.

But she does face another lightly raced filly in the Sean Tarry-trained In Other Words, a winner of three of her only for starts but all over 1400m. Like Miss Varlicious she was a late starter only making her debut in April this year as a four-year-old and all her wins have come on the poly. She has not been out since August and in Miss Varlicious faces more serious opposition than she has beaten to date.

However, the Tarry stable is on the boil and even though In Other Words may be a little race rusty she looks a big threat to Miss Varlicious.

Red Label is another in good form but like In Other Words she does look more at home over a touch further.

Miss Varlicious looks a possible banker in the exotics but an even better bet could come in the final leg with Ten Gun Salute. The Duncan Howells-trained colt has improved with every outing and will never meet a weaker field than he faces tomorrow.

The closure of the Vaal sand will not have pleased St John Gray whose runners did particularly well on that surface and it was fitting that his runners finished first, third and fourth in the final race on that surface.

This has forced him to cast around and we can expect more of his runners on the Greyville poly. The first of these lines up in the second where he saddles Ciao-Ciao and he has booked Anton Marcus for the ride. The gelding has a sand rating of 73 but here races off his turf rating of 60 which puts him well in at the weights.

However, he faces a Tarry runner that also comes off the sand with a 9-point lower turf rating. With a pole position draw and Delpech up, he could be the right one in this field.

Gray sends out two runners in the opening leg of the Pick 6 and both Don Vito and Mind Games need to be included in the Pick 6. Guilty As Charged is the form runner having taken to the poly surface however, he may just find this trip a touch sharp which opens the way for the opposition.

By Andrew Harrison