Silver Coin to return to form

SILVER COIN can restore his reputation by bouncing back to form in the Interbet.co.za Handicap at Durbanville tomorrow.

True, he has a bad draw to contend with but there are grounds for believing he is thrown in at the weights.

The formerly record-priced yearling, good enough to win first time, started hot favourite for the Langerman but finished last.

The official explanation was that he was not striding out behind but Joey Ramsden told this column early last month that there was a lot more to it than that – the colt was a run short and the race came at a time when many of the stable’s horses weren’t running well. But now “he is doing fine.” Silver Coin has been rated at 83 on his narrow debut win whereas stable companion Speedpoint, third in the Langerman, is on a mark of 96.

Give that Silver Coin was a 14-10 chance that day, it is reasonable to suppose that he would have run at least as well as Speedpoint and, taking the assumption a stage further, it means he could have more than 6kg in hand here.

Strikeitlikeamatch

World Sports Betting take a different view as they opened him at 15-2 yesterday with Strikeitlikeamatch joint favourite (with Big Mistake) at 9-2.

Piet Botha’s mount looks the main threat after leaving a run of 15 defeats behind him to show much improved form and win his last two.

“I put blinkers on him and that is the main reason for the improvement,” says Glen Puller.

Ramsden, who has 13 runners, could have a good day and his Talk Of The Town looks the one to beat in the TAB Telebet Maiden.

“He is a nice horse and he ran very well the first time,” says his trainer.

The Var colt went into punters’ notebooks after finishing strongly from a bad draw on debut to take third but the snag is that he is very short.

He opened odds-on at 17-20 and seems unlikely to ease all that much. However he should have come on enough to account for 6-1 shot L’Histoire and Rikers Island who is third favourite at 13-2.

November Storm

Ramsden’s November Storm has run well on both starts and many will want to look no further than the 5-2 chance in the opener but Bernie wears blinkers for the first time and that may be enough to end his frustrating run of seconds.

He opened favourite at 22-10. Refined Bachelor (7-2) also has strong claims but his 12 draw is a significant negative.