Charles has an Excellent chance
PICKING the winner in the main event at Fairview today is quite tricky, but the Alan Greeff-trained Excellent must have a great chance of taking the honours in Race 6 over 1 800m.
Jockey Charles Ndlovu, still fresh from his smart win on Olympic Power this Monday, will be eyeing another win on the Mauritzfontein mare.
Excellent was disappointing in her last run, but punters can draw a line through that as this was not her true form.
Prior to that she won two races in a row, beating Queen Justine twice by less than a length.
Widow’s Lamp is chasing a hat-trick of wins, following her two successes against Gitango Tonight and Veeipee Club.
This Yvette Bremnertrained daughter of Go Deputy will once again have apprentice Lyle Hewitson in the irons and could bargain on plenty of support in the betting.
She has won three races from 10 outings, while Excellent is a four-time winner from 25 runs.
Excellent’s stablemate, Another Night, will be ridden by stable elect Greg Cheyne.
She also has the form to win and must be respected.
Another Night is holding form nicely.
Minds Eye, who was an easy winner in her last start when she convincingly beat Gitango Tonight by 3.25 lengths, also has a weight advantage, carrying only 54kg compared to the 60kg of last time.
Another win is a strong possibility and her connections will be holding thumbs for a good ride from Mathew Thackeray.
This is, however, not where the challenge stops.
Christmas Carol is also capable of winning. Her last run can be ignored and punters need to keep an eye on the betting.
With five wins from 24 outings she is a mare who deserves a lot of respect.
Katies Jay and Chit Chat can upset the applecart.
For many years the last leg of the Place Accumulator has often stood out as a killer for punters and last week’s result was no exception when Zaida (22-1), Street Gaze (15-1) and Dusk Beauty (28-1) boosted the dividend from almost nothing to R7 383.
Favourites do not have a great record in PE’s last race and therefore Place Accumulator punters must have a good look at the last leg of the exotic bet before making their selections.
However, it will come as a surprise if Dr Ashley Parker’s Coastal Spell does not finish in the money.
She is a classy sort and with Cheyne up, looks the one to beat.
The first race is off at 12:35.