Winning Met combo to feature at Fairview today

THE winning combination in last Saturday’s Sun Met in Cape Town will be the big attraction at the Fairview race course today.

Cape Town trainer Justin Snaith and jockey Grant van Niekerk, who won the Met with the brilliant filly Oh Susanna, will be involved in five of the nine races at Fairview.

Today’s big one is the Fairview Mile, where Van Niekerk will be riding the fiveyear-old gelding Fifty Cents.

Fifty Cents had a disappointing run in the Queens Plate but was in fine form before that.

He has been priced up as the favourite and if at his best, he will be a very hard horse to beat.

There is also an interesting Pinnacle Stakes for fillies and mares and the Sophomore Plate for three-year-olds should be an exciting affair.

Let’s hope we see a fine meeting and some great performances like last Friday, when Omega Onslaught won the Merchants for trainer Tara Laing.

Laing has now won this race for the last five years – a brilliant training feat.

The bookmakers seemed to get carried away with the performance of Snaith and Van Niekerk at Kenilworth and have their runners among the favourites throughout today’s meeting.

The form of some of Van Niekerk’s mounts cannot give punters much confidence but he will no doubt be out to make it a big day in the Eastern Cape.

The legendary British jockey Lester Piggott and the great athlete Usain Bolt were in the Kenilworth parade ring to give Van Niekerk some inspiration before his ride in the Met.

It will be interesting to see who the Port Elizabeth celebrities will be that will inspire Van Niekerk today to put his foot forward.

There was also a strong Eastern Cape presence at the Met.

Although it is the biggest race day of the year in the Western Cape, there was a lot of help from Port Elizabeth’s best to make it a successful day.

The Fairview tote ladies paid Kenilworth a visit to help with the huge volume of bets.

The Kenilworth patrons were impressed by the Port Elizabeth girls, who did a fine job.

Champion trainer Alan Greeff also kept the Eastern Cape flag flying on the big day with the filly Carlita taking the second spot in the Summer Juvenile Stakes.

Punters’ Pal tips:

Fairview PA R576 3-4-12/5-6-8/1/2-3-7-9/2-6/1-2/2-3-7-9 Pick Six R1 440 1-5-6-8/1-3/2-3-5-7-9-11/2-6/1-2-9/1-2-3-7-9