Gold Standard glitters in betting

MONEY COMES IN FOR ONLY THREE-YEAR-OLD IN FIELD, WHO SHORTENS TO 8/1 Records will tumble at Kenilworth and punters have two bites at Pick 6 cherry.

Anew era will be ushered in at Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town on Saturday with the running of the Sun Met. This will be the first year Sun International will be sponsoring the race and the first thing they did was to double the prize money from R2.5 million to R5 million.

As a result, it became the most valuable Grade 1 race in South Africa, with higher stakes than the Durban July.

With the two Cape Thoroughbred Sales events, the Sprint over 1 200m and the Mile over 1 600m, each carrying prize money of $500 000 (R6.77 million), as well as four other R1 million races, the stake money on offer for the day of R23.5 million is a record and makes this the richest race day in Africa.

Saturday will be the first time a South African race meeting will have 13 races and there will be two Pick 6s on offer. The first will be run from race 4 to race 9 and the second from race 8 to race 13. To stimulate the pools there will be large carryovers for each Pick 6. The first will be boosted by R1.5 million and the estimated total pool is R7 million.

As the second Pick 6 is breaking new ground, it is hard to give an accurate assessment of what the pool will be. But the pool starts with R500 000 and it is likely to reach R2.2 million.

Legal Eagle remains the favourite for the Met but has drifted to 2/1, while second favourite Marinaresco is firm at 5/2. Whisky Baron is at 9/2 but the biggest market move has been for Gold Standard, the lone three-year-old in the field, who has continued to shorten. He is quoted at 8/1 after being available at 20/1 a fortnight back.

Bela-Bela is the only filly who will be lining up and she is at 9/1. Her stable companion, It’s My Turn, the mount of Piere Strydom, is at 14/1.