It was rough going for punters this past weekend but for those that managed to land the exotics, or even a percentage there of, will have added substantially to their wallets. It could be more of the same at Greyville tonight where they face another tricky poly meeting.

Muzi Yeni

The formidable combination of Johan Janse van Vuuren and Anton Marcus have teamed up again this weekend. Their main attack comes on Sunday but their only runner this evening should get their ball rolling with Ottawa in the card opener. She is rated way better than her field and has some useful Highveld form. She was run out of late at her last start over the Turffontein short-cut, an indication that she should take to the synthetic surface and is likely to start at cramped odds, 13-20 in the current market. Opposition could come from Redeem The Gold who found some market support on debut but raced green in the soft ground. She should make big improvement and may be a threat, while Captain’s Love has improved at recent outings and was not far back in a work riders’ plate last run.

Dennis Drier is having a better run in the Cape after last year’s disappointing raid where most of his string failed to acclimatise, but assistant Stuart Ferrie is keeping the home fires burning with Wealthy winning his second Chapter Challenge at Scottsville on Sunday. Ferrie saddles The Master in the second. The gelding has something of a reputation already in spite of only a single outing where he was run out of it inside the last 100m. He should come on with the experience but it is a competitive maiden with the likes of Mokoko, Rocket Fire and Pantsula all likely to have their supporters.

A measure of Marcus’s dominance when it comes to picking and choosing rides is that his current winning strike rate is nearly 32% and he is only four winners behind current national log leader Muzi Yeni who has had 400 more rides.

After Ottawa and The Master, he will be aboard another likely favourite in the Brett Crawford-trained Elusive Diva. The filly has been costly to follow, a beaten favourite at all three of her starts on the poly with Marcus up, but given her current front-running tactics she drops to what could possibly be her optimum trip of 1400m.

Gareth van Zyl is having a smart run at present and Sweet Preserve is back on her favourite surface when she runs in the fifth. Her three best efforts have come on the poly and she was closing fast on favourite Little Audrey last time out. Of the opposition, La Duchesse has spotty form but is capable on her day and Paul Gadsby has declared blinkers after her recent performance when turning it up at the business end of her race. Counter Fate showed some improvement last run in her second outing in blinkers and can do better over this extended trip.

An interesting runner on the night is Petra in the Independent Minds Pinnacle Plate. Father and son combination of Robbie and Shannon Hill thought enough of their filly to pit her against some of the best around last season after finishing a close-up second to the useful Inverroche in the Strelitzia Stakes. Things didn’t work out and she was rested after finishing down the field in Gr2 The Debutante. She trialled well in her first run back on a racecourse but takes on a smart field of older fillies including Kateecador and Victory Trip who may have the edge when it comes to racing fitness. Also in the mix is top weight Val-A-Ree but she faces a mammoth task as a three-year-old under 61kg in spite of being the best weighted filly in the race.

By Andrew Harrison