Newlands, one of Joey Ramsden’s legion of smart two-year-olds, looks good for the Place Your Bets Maiden Juvenile at Kenilworth tomorrow.
Donovan Dillon (Nkosi Hlophe)
Donovan Dillon’s mount went into punters’ notebooks after taking third against older horses after failing to go the early pace over 1 200m on debut. The extra furlong here will be much more to his liking – he is by Epsom Derby winner High Chaparral out of a mare by Fusaichi Pegasus who won the Kentucky Derby – and he has a plum draw. He opened at 12-10 with World Sports Betting yesterday. The Justin Snaith-trained Pride Rock, 22-10 second favourite and the obvious danger, is drawn in the bush.
Snaith and Ramsden also dominate the opening Fillies Maiden Juvenile but this time the draw advantage is reversed with the Milnerton-trained 12-10 favourite Captain Gambler wide. Her form looks slightly better and Dillon is one of the few Cape Town jockeys to have made a noticeable effort to emulate the Anton Marcus starting methods.
That said, Alpha Girl has the benefit of the in-form Heavelon van der Hoven’s 2.5kg claim and, as low numbers have a huge advantage over 1 400m on this course, she is marginally preferred –and yesterday’s 8-1 is a big price.
The majority of Dean Kannemeyer’s 61 winners this season have come in Durban – indeed he is the leading trainer at Greyville at the moment – whereas only 13 of his total have been in his native Cape Town. But the handicappers reckon he should add to this with Playboy Buddy in the 2 500m maiden.
Grant Behr (Nkosi Hlophe)
Grant Behr’s mount is the highest rated horse in the race and at the weights she has a theoretical 5kg in hand. Little wonder that she opened as short as evens. True, she has been off for two months but she did run up to her handicap mark when finishing well over a mile last time. Although she has never raced beyond 2 000m, she finished second when she did try that trip. Olympic Power (5-2) and Tropical Heat (16-10), who look the main dangers, have also not been further than 2 000m.
The Quinte Plus Maiden is on form a coin-toss between the top three and French Captain gets the vote only because he looks more accustomed to this 1 000m than the other two. But watch out for Snaith two-year-old Tweak the Wind. He opened 22-10 joint favourite with French Captain.
Sean Veale, successful on Triptique in the Cape Merchants here in November, gets the call from Brett Crawford as Corne Orffer is out for a week for an interference offence on Rock On Geordies three weeks ago.
Veale’s best chance is almost certainly on 3-1 shot Baqueira in race five assuming she can cope with the drop in trip. The filly has most to fear from 14-10 favourite Emerald Gal, Kwando (5-1) and 11-2 shot Garden Tea Party who is better than her last run would suggest (she was returned not striding out).
By Michael Clower
