Gimme A Nother roll of the Dyce on this race day
There are red-hot favourites and then there’s Gimme A Nother.
Punters might normally be delighted to see their old foes, the bookmakers, soiling themselves over a mere filly, but the problem is that the odds being posted alongside her name ahead of Saturday’s Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Guineas make it hardly worth the bother of placing a wager.
But, of course, she makes a handy banker choice for exotic bets, including a Pick 6 with a predicted pool of R5 million.
The unbeaten Mauritzfontein starlet, trained by Mike de Kock, could be backed on Thursday at about 1-3 for the Grade 1 race, one of the marquee events at an action-packed Classic day – the second leg of The Championships series and of the Triples series.
So poop-scared of Gimme A Nother are the pencillers, that they will give you a measly 5-10 on her scooping the Triple Tiara – meaning both the Fillies Classic and Leg 3 of the series, the SA Oaks. That’s odds on for two races, a month apart, against the best three-year-olds in SA.
If you think there’s a chance Gimme A Nother won’t pull this off and the Tiara won’t be won, you can place a bet at 11-10.
By comparison, top colt Sandringham Summit is at 14-10 to win the Triple Crown, with “no winner” a rather more conservative 7-20.
Many a Pick 6 player will be isolating both these stars. Fair enough. But there is yet another potential banker in the form of the sprinter Dyce – in the final leg, the TAB J J The Jet Plane Stakes over 1 000m.
Trainer Lucky Houdalakis was the man who took the unforgettable “JJ” on his all-conquering campaign abroad will be saddling Dyce with an eye on serendipity.
After Dyce trounced the locals in the Flying Championship recently, Lucky was heard to murmur something about taking a gun to a knife fight. That’s how highly he rates this five-year-old, who has won relentlessly and is the country’s top-rated sprinter.
Nominally the main event on the card is the Grade 1 Wilgerbosdrift HF Oppenheimer Horse Chestnut Stake. Reigning Horse of the Year Princess Calla tops the boards. But the mighty mare takes on some male rivals – notably Turffontein supremo Puerto Manzano, Cape raider At My Command and Main Defender.