Racing Express, Monday 14 March 2022: Poly to assist Zanetto

Paul Peter is back at Hollywoodbets Greyville today with six runners. They all appear to have decent winning chances, but he could have saved the best for last as Zanetto, who runs in Race 8, looks the pick of his sextet. The three-year-old daughter of Silvano has only raced three times for a win and two places and she looks to have a lot going for her in this MR 70 Handicap over 1400m on the Polytrack.

Firstly, Zanetto is lightly raced and has the most scope for improvement in this line-up. She also has the benefit of No 1 draw and the assistance of Warren Kennedy in the irons. In addition, she is a strong frontrunner, and this course should suite her. There might be some concern that she is taking on the colts, but she has done so in all three of her races and has performed very well against them.

She won on debut over 1450m on the Turffontein Inside track and three winners from five runners have come from that form line. There was also a winner from her second start. The one unknown is how she will handle the Polytrack, but Kennedy has ridden her in all three starts and he must have given some input on the decision to bring her to Greyville.

Ndaka has been the bridesmaid three times in a row but based on the current good form of the Yogas Govender stable, he should be out of the maiden ranks after Race 1 over 1000m. The chestnut son of Willow Magic was second to Botz – a highly regarded runner – in December and was expected to win shortly thereafter.

The full edition of Monday’s Racing Express, as found in The Citizen, is available here

But he was then touched off by Bless Me Fred when incurring a scalp wound. He had no excuses last time, but the winner of that race, New Orleans, was in receipt of 2.5kg so he was hardly disgraced in being beaten just under a length. Raspberry Beret is weighted to finish ahead of him but her runs on the Polytrack have not been all that great. It could be worth taking a double with Thunder Masala in Race 3 – another Maiden Plate but over 1700m.

This gelding, who incidentally also ran behind Botz, made dramatic improvement when tried over 1600m at Scottsville. He followed that up with a fast-finishing effort on his Polytrack debut. The telling factor is the booking of Anton Marcus. Whenever Marcus rides for Garth Puller there is usually fireworks.

All he needs is a good pace and with speedy Death Blow in the race, the tempo may also stretch Highveld raiders Gimme A Dream and Apollo Eleven allowing Thunder Masala to power home at the end.