Punters will need to dig deep into their formbooks and do some serious studying for today’s meeting at Scottsville as they are faced with a loaded card of mostly maximum fields. However, the pickings will be profitable if they can find correct combinations.

The White Horse Function Room Handicap is a sample of what they are up against being a competitive handicap. Dante’s Legacy was a beaten favourite last run and Gavin van Zyl’s charge is having his fourth run after a lengthy break. He has raced handy in both of his last two starts before coming up short under pressure but the extra distance and a good draw should see him in the firing line.

Gareth van Zyl saddles the Australian-bred Handsome Harvey for the first time. The colt shed his maiden for Mike Azzie at Turffontein and had shown steady improvement leading up to that win. He has the worst of the draw but looks progressive.

Terabyte has his third run after a lay-off and gelding but still gave his rider a tough time last time out as he proved a touch headstrong. He races with a tongue-tie for the first time and that could make all the difference.

Crystal Ball takes on males for the first time but there was a lot to like about the way she finished off her latest start. She made up many lengths in the straight and with that run under her girth she cannot be written off lightly.

In the Rockafellas Restaurant Handicap, Cuvara made good improvement to win at his second start and looks progressive. Tony Rivalland’s yard has come good over the past few weeks and it generally pays to follow form stables. Talking of form stables, Paul Lafferty has been lining them up in recent weeks along with apprentice Ashton Arries who is back from suspension. They team up with top weight Dark Moon Rising who won well on debut beating the luckless but subsequent winner Indian Tractor. Of the balance, Rock Of Africa has some fair form to stronger in the Cape and can make the step up.

The final race on the card is a tough Fillies and Mare Handicap but Rainbowinthesky has shown up well in two starts against stronger since shedding her maiden. An outside draw down the Scottsville straight does not appear to be an issue any longer so gate 16 should not be a disadvantage.

Russian Girl has been holding form and looks a live danger to the selection while Silk Trip was deemed good enough to try a trip to the Highveld and can improve on her last effort.

A possibly exotic bet banker may come in the form of Silent Obsession in the Racing It’s A Rush Maiden Plate. The gelding only has one eye but has come to hand after making major improvement at his last start. He was an expensive yearling buy and is a smart looking individual.  The filly Enticer looks his main threat and although she takes on males she has smart form over shorter. If she stays the trip she will be competitive.

On The Bounce will have many supporters in the card opener after finishing a useful third against winners last time out. That form has since been franked with second-placed Neptune’s Rain winning the Gr3 Strelitiza Stakes at her subsequent outing.

Both On The Bounce and Swift Dancer have had both their starts in soft ground and there was a length between the two when they met for the first time. There is unlikely to be much between them again today and drawn alongside each other should make for an interesting tussle. However, there are plenty of unraced fillies in the line-up and the betting may prove a better guide.

By Andrew Harrison

Anton Marcus will ride Trip To Heaven for the first time in the Computaform Sprint at Turffontein on Saturday.

It’s a fascinating prospect – the best starter in the business teamed up with perhaps the speediest horse in the country but one with a flaw in his make-up that often results in him giving away a fatal amount of ground at the start.

Marcus’s famed starting method involves pushing his weight almost impossibly far forward as the gates open, so encouraging the horse’s momentum, but the four-time champion faces an additional problem with Trip To Heaven because the Sean Tarry-trained gelding is not just slow out of the pens but also slow to get going.

When he started favourite In the Cape Flying Championship in January, with Grant van Niekerk in the irons, he was eight lengths last after 100m yet he finished far faster than anything and only failed to peg back stable companion Carry On Alice by a rapidly-dwindling neck.

Marcus, though, has been struck by how well the horse ran in his two races at Kenilworth and said: “He has got to bring his Cape Town form to Jo’burg.”

Trip To Heaven is 28-10 second favourite with Betting World which has Carry On Alice heading the market at 22-10 in her bid to become the first dual winner of the Computaform since Golden Loom at the end of the last century.

What A Winter in 2013 is the only Cape Town winner since Laisserfaire 15 years ago and Snaith Racing is not optimistic about the chances of Jo’s Bond (8-1) despite her close-up fourth in the Cape Flying and her more recent Listed win at Scottsville.

Jonathan Snaith said: “We are raiding from Summerveld and people don’t seem to realise that is only about 1 700 feet whereas Jo’burg is over 5 000 feet. This makes it very difficult and, while the shorter the distance of the race the better chance you have, we are not at all confident.”

Legal Eagle (Marcus ) is as short as 4-10 to repeat last year’s win in the Premier’s Champions Challenge and Heavenly Blue (Callan Murray) is 6-10 to give Mike de Kock his first SA Derby since Irish Flame seven years ago.

Michael Clower

Billy Jacobson made the most of his opportunities in the “Levelling the Playing Fields Series” and heads the standings after Sunday’s second leg at Scottsville.

Jacobson, successful aboard the Chris Erasmus-trained Puchini in the first leg, was drawn to partner Mark Dixon’s runner, The Poet, and rode the perfect race to get his mount home ahead of Puchini in a thrilling finish.

Allocation of jockeys is done on a random draw basis and Jacobson knew what he was up against in Puchini. “He’s a horse that never gives in. I was a bit worried because I thought I’d gone to soon. I know Pucini would come back at me.” There was only a nose in it at the line.

Former commentator Eric Denman was complimentary of Jacobson’s ride and was on hand to lead in The Poet who races in the colours of his brother Trevor and his wife Robin. “Billy did his homework.  He worked out the race beforehand and knew exactly what he was up against. I thought he rode a great race.”

Morne Winaar was fortunate enough to re-draw the mount on Brave And Bold on which he finished second in the first leg. This time he went one better on Wendy Whitehead’s mare and made all to hold The King Of Random with first leg winner Royal Agree back in fourth. Jacobson and Winaar now lead the jockey standings.

A feature of the “Levelling the Playing Fields Series”, is that jockeys’ mounts are balloted and each trainer was invited to enter only one horse from their yard to compete in all three legs with the 14 highest point earners qualifying for the final at the end of June. While all horses entered for the series will compete again in the third round, the make-up of the fields for the two heats will change, as a fresh draw will take place to decide upon the two fields for the 1600m contests.

The third round takes place on Saturday, 27 May with the final being held over 1400 metres at Greyville on Sunday, 25 June.

Prize money for each race in rounds 1, 2 and 3 is R100 000 but the final will be contested for R200 000. In addition the Owner, Breeder and Trainer of the horse that accumulates most points, including the final, will each receive an additional R50 000 and the Jockey who accumulates the most points over the series will receive a bonus of R50 000.

Andrew Harrison

Picture: The Poet and Billy Jacobson (Nkosi Hlophe)

The South African  Tote plans to offer minimum-amount guaranteed Pick 6 pools on major racedays in future and kicks off with a R4.5-million guaranteed pool on the Champions Day race meeting at Turffontein this Saturday.

Champions Day is one of the “Big 4” race meetings on the SA calendar – it’s Joburg’s richest raceday and features Jozi’s richest race in the R4-million Premier’s Champions Challenge. The Pick 6 pool on the meeting starts with a R1.1-million carryover and should soar way over the R5-million mark (TAB’s official estimate is R5.1 million).

But to heighten interest and awareness, and to satisfy the requests of many customers, TAB is guaranteeing a total net pool of R4.5 million up front. “Many of our customers have said that only knowing the approximate pool a few minutes before the off hampers their play,” said TAB boss Vee Moodley.

“These customers tend to base the amount they spend on the Pick 6 on the actual pool size, not our estimates, and to encourage them to spend more we will guarantee minimum pool levels for major race meetings.”

Should a pool fail to reach the guaranteed amount, TAB will make up the difference subject to the condition that all commingling partners are able to bet into the pool as scheduled.

“Obviously if a local or international commingling partner is prevented from betting into the pool for whatever reason, for example a loss of connectivity, the guarantee will fall away. Once the pool exceeds the guaranteed amount, the actual pool total will be displayed and paid out as normal,” said Moodley.

TAB is also guaranteeing a minimum R2.7-million Pick 6 pool for the Daisy Guineas meeting at Greyville this Sunday, when the pool will start with a R750,000 carryover.

There’s a bumper TAB betting menu for Champions Day at Turffontein on Saturday May 6 with carryovers into several pools in addition to the Pick 6:

Race 2: BiPot ONE Leg 1 – R25,246 caarryover, likely pool R550,000

Race 3: PA Leg 1 – likely pool R1,250,000

Race 4: Pick 6 MEGAPOOL Leg 1 – R1,100,000 carryover, GUARANTEED pool R4,500,000 (estimated pool R5.1 million plus)

Race 5: Jackpot ONE Leg 1 – likely pool R1,000,000

Race 6: PA Blitz Leg 1 – likely pool R100,000

Race 7: BiPot TWO Leg 1 – likely pool R150,000

Race 8: Normal range of TAB bets

Race 9: Premier’s Champions Challenge – Jackpot TWO Leg 1 – R40,000 carryover, likely pool R750,000. Also M6 for Soccer GG

Race 10: Normal range of TAB bets

Race 11: Jackpot Quickmix Leg 1 – R22,950 carryover, likely pool R200,000

Race 12: Normal range of TAB bets

* Tote betting on the meeting opens Wednesday 3 May.

Marinaresco, second in last year’s Vodacom Durban July and second favourite this time, is reported in good heart for his reappearance in the Independent on Saturday Drill Hall Stakes although Candice Bass-Robinson points out that Sunday’s Greyville feature is very much a stepping-stone.

She said: “Marinaresco is doing quite nicely and he doesn’t need a huge amount of work but the 1 400m is a bit short for him and this is a prep for the Rising Sun Gold Challenge.”

Bernard Fayd’Herbe rides the four-year-old for the first time while Richard Fourie has been booked for Sail South, one of two high profile runners for Brett Crawford.

Crawford said: “Sail South is very effective over the trip but he has a bad draw. However he loves Greyville, he has been very competitive there. He is rated 114, well weighted and well in.

“You have got to respect both him and Captain America (Corne Orffer) who is in very good form at the moment. He has been on the grass twice and has tightened up nicely.”

Horizon, slashed from 20-1 to 12-1 joint third favourite for the July after his head defeat of Cape Derby runner-up Zodiac Ruler in a 1 400m allowance plate at Greyville nine days ago, will renew rivalry with the Snaith horse in Sunday’s Daisy Guineas. Mrs Robinson then intends going for the Daily News.

Fayd’Herbe is back in full swing after his Dubai stint and his punishing weight-reducing routine, involving running at least ten kilometres a day, proved to have spin-off benefits last week when his circuits of Kenilworth enabled him to spot that the ground on the stands side was faster. He steered widest of all on African Night Sky last Saturday to land his third (Highlands Stud) Winter Guineas and the 10-1 chance has been pencilled in for an ambitious target.

Jonathan Snaith said: “He will now go for the other two legs of the Winter Series and next year he might run in the Sun Met.”

Turbulent Air, the 7-2 favourite, could finish no closer than fifth and, although Anton Marcus reported that the gelding did not stride out freely, the course vet could find nothing wrong.

Whose That Girl, who led over a furlong out under Domeyer in the Sweet Chestnut, will go in search of the R150 000 Winter Series bonus in the Stormsvlei Mile (May 21) and the Winter Oaks (June 24) but Mrs Robinson will adopt a new approach with stable companion Silver Mountain who managed only a disappointing fourth of five behind South Side in the 1 000m conditions plate.

The Milnerton trainer said: “This was way too short for her and the track is running very fast. It was a prep for the Tibouchina but she is not quite reproducing what she did as a three-year-old. Maybe she wants further and that is what we are going to look at.”

By Michael Cower