Four runners can slow Fourie down
WITH championship-chasing jockey Richard Fourie all but guaranteed a first SA title, bettors looking for value will be excused for trying to find the one that can beat Fourie whenever he mounts up.
Fact is, the moment Fourie is declared to ride a horse, bookmakers inevitably drop the odds, and the horse attracts tote money like there is no tomorrow.
Today at Fairview is no exception.
With eight races carded to be contested over the Polytrack, following Fourie will probably be like buying sweets from the corner café in decades gone by – you know what you’re going to get, but you’ll have to settle for chappies instead of small change.
So, on a card where Fourie – at the time of writing – will be aboard six runners topping the bookmakers’ board, it might pay to concentrate more on who can beat him.
In race 2, a Maiden Plate over 1 600m, Kelly Mitchley’s Specmagic with S’manga Khumalo in the irons ought to surprise Fourie, who will be aboard Outer Dimension for trainer Alan Greeff.
Specmagic has been tested on a polytrack three times, but that was in Durban. Having moved to the Eastern Cape before his last run, he might just find a winning companion in the Fairview poly.
At 7-2 as quoted by World Sports Betting, he looks worth a little wager.
The same goes for Lady Writer, who will carry the Mitchley/Khumalo flag in race 4, a FM66 Handicap over 1 900m.
It has been 452 days since her solitary win, but having been beaten less than a length in her last two attempts over the same course, but travelling 100m too far, it must surely be her time.
In race 6, Muzi Yeni looks most likely to put the brakes on Fourie’s charge to the line when he rides the Gavin Smith-trained Slings And Arrows over 1 400m.
This Trippi-gelding is a hard knocker and won’t be winning out of turn in a MR96 Handicap. Perhaps rated just a few points higher than his ability, the five-year-old deserves a fifth career win and on form it can’t be too far away.
In the lucky last, Trent Mayhew’s 4kg claim might be exactly what Life On mars needs to double up after a hard-fought victory under the same jock last time out.
A stable companion to Slings And Arrows, Life On Mars has been on the up since the start of the season and there’s no reason why he can’t continue to perform like the six-time winning champion he is.