Can favourites keep rolling at rare Monday meeting?
Monday racing is a local rarity nowadays, so the betting market for the fixture at Fairview should be fairly well supported.
With a rash of punter-friendly results over the weekend, many players will be keen to chase their luck – others to soothe the odd bump and scrape.
Fairview can be a tricky place, so going wide in selections for exotic-bet races is always a wise move. That makes finding a banker a priority.
There is promising talent in Race 8, a 1000m MR 66 Handicap.
Two three-year-olds look a cut above their opposition: gelding Buffalo Bill (5.00 the Win) and filly Danish Dynamite (3.80), who both won their second outings after promising debuts.
However, it would be reckless to pick one over the other at this stage of their youthful development.
Champion trainer Justin Snaith has just one runner on the card, Gimme More Time in Race 5, a MR86 Handicap over 2000m, and we can expect a big run.
But is the six-year-old (at 5.00) banker material, as suggested by some tipsters? He is allocated 60.5kg, so Savannah Valjalo flies in from Durban to relieve him of 4kg of that.
The apprentice jockey has shown she is a skilled rider but is still learning about the hurly burly of the game and a wide draw of 10 on a relatively unfamiliar track carries risk – particularly as there are a few other horses and riders who know the environment well.
Trainer Gavin Smith’s duo of Peace In Our World (3.75) and Nothingelsematters (6.00) seem to be essential exotics inclusions in this race – and, if the budget stretches, perhaps a couple of other.
This process of elimination brings us to Race 4, an MR66 Handicap over 1400m, and another promising three-year-old. Above The Horizon has never been out of the prize money in six runs and has picked up a couple of wins.
Sharon Kotzen’s charge takes on a dozen older handicappers who look firmly in their place in the handicap and, from a draw of 4, under strong rider Luy Mxothwa, looks a decent bet and a banker at 3.50.
