De Melo has high strike rate on Highveld

Vicomte looked a decent sort when coming from off the pace to win going away over the minimum trip at the Vaal on debut and makes big appeal as a win bet and exotic banker in the last at the same course today.

The son of Var was well backed into even money on that occasion, and runner up Darkest Hour has won twice since. As a consequence his modest merit rating of 78 appears rather on the low side, and despite an absence of 11 weeks he should have a bit too much class for this MR 72 Handicap field.

He now goes over 1200m, which seems likely to suit, and has Keagan de Melo up, who boasts an impressive win strike rate of 25% for the Gavin van Zyl yard.

This looks like something of an ‘all-or-nothing’ type of race because if you do not go the banker route, it would be advisable to add as many runners as you can. The other 13 runners are all battle-hardened older handicappers.

Final leg of the Jackpot is a MR 94 Handicap for three-years-olds over the rarely raced 1300m. This event has attracted a small but potent field a few of whom are bound to line up for the approaching Graham Beck Stakes and Dingaans later in the season.

Here S’manga Khumalo seems to hold the ace hand with the well bred and extremely promising Wonderous Climber. Not seen since the beginning of May, the form of both his starts has worked out extremely well, and this is another who is almost certainly better than his rating, despite the fact that it sits at 85.

If the extended sprint trip is not now too sharp, he will be tough to beat with 55.5kg, although top weights Borya and Prince Of Kahal were far from disgraced in features during the KZN season, and have to be respected. Vicomte looks a stand-out bet in Race 8 at the Vaal today. /