Nice Wave for Marcus

Many punters will be delighted to see Anton Marcus back in action at Greyville tonight but it is unlikely the same applies to the bookmakers.

The former champion jockey has six rides on the eight-race card and five of them have been priced up as favourite while Valiente, in Race 1, is 5-2 second favourite.

It’s all rather uncomfortable for Marcus as the expectations are high but the best of his rides on the night could be Wave, who lines up in Race 3, a Progress Plate over 1100m on the Polytrack. Trained by Gavin van Zyl, this three-year-old son of Mogok had a very decent juvenile career.

After winning on debut, he contested four successive features, and while he did not win, he managed to place in three of the four. His best performance came in the Grade 1 Gold Medallion at Scottsville in which he finished a 0.70-length third behind Eden Roc.

This will be his first run as a three-year-old and clearly Van Zyl will be looking for a feature for his charge. In this event he is the highest rated runner and is at least 4kg better off with any other runner based on merit ratings.

There are two interesting facts to consider. This will be his first run on the Polytrack and also his first in blinkers. However, Wave is nicely drawn in barrier No 3 and, of course, he has Marcus in the irons.

Ad Altisima is not well handicapped in this event but he does have great form on the Polytrack and that must bring Michael Roberts’ charge in to the reckoning.