There has been a reactive move to betting in Race 5

Reactive has found some decent betting support in Race 5 over 1600m at Scottsville today although Cape Speed remains the outright favourite at 15-10.

The face of the race changed when Western Cape trainer Adam Marcus withdrew Gyre who looked the horse to beat. When Marcus pulled his charge from the race he cited the poor condition of the track for his reason, which was accepted by the stipes.

They clearly had a lot of sympathy for Marcus who lost his best horse when Royal Badge broke down during the running of the Gold Cup last Saturday in which jockey Richard Fourie believed his mount stepped in a hole or large divot.

On paper, Gyre's withdrawal did make Cape Fling the runner to beat on form, especially with Champion Jockey Anthony Delpech in the irons for the Dean Kannemeyer stable. At first glance the five-year-old gelding does not appear to have run well in his last two starts since fitted with blinkers but in both cases he had to overcome a wide draw and did not finish far back.

Reactive has decent enough form and Tony Rivalland's charge has won his only start over the course and distance so he does need to be respected. He will be ridden by Warren Kennedy.

The first two races look tricky for BiPot and Place Accumulator punters as there are a lot of first-timers. There was a lot of support for newcomers Pata Pata from the Brett Crawford yard and Grizzard, trained by Dennis Drier with Anton Marcus in the irons. It appeared to be a two-horse affair the way the bookmakers were going but Crawford then pulled Pata Pata out of the race late yesterday afternoon, because the son of Var was coughing. That does leave Seventh Rock gelding Grizzard, owned by Mayfair Speculator, as favourite.

He is a half-brother to a very decent sprinter trained by Sean Tarry, Captain Causeway, who has won four of 11 races.

But it might be wise to look at two horses who have run, Delectable Desire and Suzie's Soldier. Delectable Desire is trained by Robbie Hill and has had two placed runs, both over 1200m at Scottsville. He did run on in both of those so perhaps the drop to 1000m might not be ideal.

Suzie's Soldier is from the Doug Campbell yard and the son of Brave Tin Soldier had a decent debut when a 1.10-length third behind Ryker over the course and distance. Unfortunately no winners from 12 runners have come from the form line but he does have a 2.5kg weight allowance courtesy of apprentice Ashton Arries. However, they do have racing experience and that often makes a huge difference in races of this nature.

In Race 2 most of the horses who have run had shockers although Blazing Heart from the Drier yard looks to have some room to improve. However, Kannmeyer and Delpech team up with Silva's Bullet, a son of Silvano who is a half-brother to Solid Speed and Rainy Day Blues.

He has been priced up as the 2-1 favourite and could be the runner to beat from No 3 draw. The one concern is that he could well be looking for further.