Western Angel can book her Scottsville ticket by beating stable companion Clouds Unfold and fellow previous winner Racine in the Itsarush Welcomes You Juvenile Plate at Kenilworth tomorrow.
The selection proved a length and a quarter the better when the two Candice Bass-Robinson horses met in the Tattersalls Listed race and she is the one, not Clouds Unfold, that their trainer has been talking of as an Allan Robertson possible.
Aldo Domeyer is now back in the irons after partnering Clouds Unfold on Met day but not too much significance should be attached to that as Cloud belongs to Drakenstein which retains Grant van Niekerk.
Racine was backed down to odds-on when scoring on debut and, although Vaughan Marshall said then that she would prefer an extra furlong, she is clearly useful. These three have to give away 3kg but it will take an exceptional newcomer to beat all of them.
World Sports Betting makes the two Bass-Robinson runners joint favourite at 17-10 with Racine 5-2 and the Brett Crawford first-timer Dalai’s Promise best of the rest on 15-2.
In the TAB Telebet Juvenile the form book points quite clearly to Van Niekerk’s mount Twist Of Fate (14-10) who finished in front of Lucky Dancer, Temp The Tiger and Jephthah at Durbanville last time despite being badly drawn. Savea (5-2) could be a danger as he beat subsequent winner Sailor Sam on debut and Dean Kannemeyer speaks of him as “having a lot of natural speed.”
Fire Walker (9-2) holds stable companion Western Storm (9-2) and Cortada (7-2) on his last run and so has obvious claims in the Tabonline Handicap despite that being nearly three months ago. Pen-Chan is also a 7-2 shot but it could be worth taking a chance with Royal Marine who is a huge price at 11-1.
First-time out of the maidens is normally a no-no but, as the ever-informative Stan Elley sometimes points out, horses that keep running well in maidens usually continue doing so when they move into handicaps and there are grounds for believing that this one is well treated.
After the gelding’s win at Durbanville last time Greg Ennion said: “He always shows so much pace and at home he trounces the likes of Northern Corner who is a five-time winner.”
Significantly different tactics were adopted that day and Richard Fourie reported: “I pulled my stick through, gave him a couple of slaps and it was a matter of how far.” The only real negative is that Fourie has preferred Pen-Chan but at 11-1 you can afford to back the selection each way.
The Ramsden two-year-old Yolta faces a huge task in the Betting World Maiden as she receives only 4kg and she should be getting 9.5kg on the weight-for-age scale. Anina (not striding out when disappointing last time) looks big at 9-1 and is marginally preferred to Kamaishi and Clifton Beach.
By Michael Clower
