Snaith fillies dominate in KZN
SEPARATED: SNOWDANCE 1-3 FOR FILLIES GUINEAS, OH SUSANNA 17-10 FOR GUINEAS
Undercover Agent strongly favoured to win Drill Hall Stakes.
Justin Snaith arguably trains the two best fillies in the country in Snowdance and Oh Susanna and both of them will begin their KwaZulu-Natal winter campaigns at Greyville tomorrow night.
The pair dominated the scene during the Cape summer season which culminated in Oh Susanna winning the Sun Met over 2000m.
Snaith has cleverly split the pair. Snowdance takes on her own sex in the Daisy Fillies Guineas, while the trainer has decided to put Oh Susanna against the boys in the Grade 2 Daisy Guineas.
One has to feel that Snowdance looks a cut above the opposition in the Fillies Guineas and, in fact, with just nine runners in the field, the daughter of Captain Al probably scared off many of her opponents. She has a merit rating of 114 which puts her at least 1.5kg better off with second highest rated Lady In Black. If you take the balance of the field into account she is between 4.5kg and 14.5kg better handicapped with them.
She is drawn well enough at No 5, which is important at Greyville and many punters will see her as a banker in the carryover Pick 6. The carryover figure is R150,000 and the pool is expected to reach R1.7 million.
Also remember the Jackpot Special which blends two feature races at Greyville tomorrow with two of the Grade 1 races at Turffontein on Saturday. The Daisy Fillies Guineas is the first leg, the Daisy Guineas is the second, the Computaform Sprint is the third leg with the bet ending on the Premier’s Champions Challenge.
Snowdance has been priced up at 1-3 to win the first leg and, as such, Bernard Fayd’Herbe’s mount will be a popular banker. The only danger looks to be Lady In Black from the Dennis Drier stable. Although Snowdance beat her well enough in the Cape Fillies Guineas, Drier says his charge has improved quite substantially and she is now in her own back yard.
Also in her favour is that she has won both her races at Greyville, including the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes.
Oh Susanna is on offer at 17-10 because although she is at least 8kg better handicapped than any other runner, she could find 1600m a touch sharp and she is coming up against one of the best milers in the country in Tap O’Noth. He is on offer at 5-2 and is a must to be included in all exotic bets. Grant van Niekerk has the ride once again on the daughter of Street Cry.
The other feature on the night, and the race often considered to raise the curtain on the KZN season, is the Independent On Saturday Drill Hall Stakes over 1400m. Sail South is the best handicapped runner, but Undercover Agent from the Brett Crawford yard is the 17-10 favourite.
The latter won the Grade 3 Byerley Turk over this course and distance four weeks ago and is probably a worthy favourite but it could be worth adding in runners like stable companion Sail South, Will Pays, Captain Aldo and Our Mate Art into your Pick 6.