Whatever you do, don’t leave Al’s Bells out of your bets

IT is still early days, but the current East Cape horse racing season could be one of the best and most competitive in many years.

Last season was dominated by the stable of trainer Alan Greeff and he has started the new season in fine style.

Greeff has already saddled 13 winners since the season started last month, but it is good to see that Gavin Smith is showing early signs of challenging for the trainers’ title again.

Smith won his eighth title in 2012-13 but in every season since then Greeff saddled the most winners in Port Elizabeth.

Last season Greeff was crowned the champion for the 12th time with a personal best of 148 winners, just two behind Smith’s record tally of 150 in 2006-2007.

It will be great to see them in a close battle for the title again. Smith also started the new season on the right note with nine winners so far.

Sharon Kotzen is in red-hot form with eight winners, just one ahead of Tara Laing and Yvette Bremner.

The action continues on the Fairview polytrack with eight races and Greeff could provide the banker bets for punters.

Two Greeff runners that look very hard to beat are Adalberto (race 3) and League Game (race 6).

Both will be ridden by champion jockey Greg Cheyne.

Cheyne missed a few Fairview meetings but is already setting the pace, along with Louis Mxothwa, with nine winners each.

Good runs are also expected from Without Limits (race 1), Free Agent (race 5), March Music (race 7) and Al’s Bells (race 8). Don’t leave them out of your bets.

There is no feature race today but punters can look forward to the Walmer Handicap next Friday and the Fairview 1800 on September 28.

Punters must also make a note of the dates of the big race days on October 26 and 28.

The Algoa Cup will be the highlight of the meeting on September 28.