Nightmare at the office

YESTERDAY’S race meeting, which was moved from the Vaal Turf track to the Turffontein Inside track due to incessant rain, turned into somewhat of a nightmare for most punters.

The first problem was that there was a multitude of scratchings - 40 to be exact. With eight races carded, that amounts to an average of five horses per race.

Then of course there was the issue of draws. On the Vaal Turf course, races up to 1600 are all run down the straight, but at Turffontein every race on the Inside track is around the turn.

These factors in combination, as well as the fact that many runners had to be transported from the Vaal to Turffontein at short notice, conspired to open the door for some proverbial roughies, with a number taking full advantage.

Oksana (16-1) was the first to surprise, scoring a 0.2-length victory over Bella Black (14-1) in Race 2, a Maiden Plate for fillies and mares over 1200m. With 33-1 longshot Cape Diamond taking fourth place behind Forward March (51), it wasn’t a surprise to see the Quartet pay more than R7,500.

Even worse was to follow in Race 3, a Maiden Plate over 1700m and the first leg of the Pick 6, where Bartholomeus (33-1), Wylie The Great (20-1), City Deep (50-1) and Royal Siege (161) took the first four places to ensure a R59,881 Quartet payout.

Halfway through the Pick 6 there were only 129 live tickets as Illuminate (14-1) snatched a 0.5-length victory over Stately Home in Race 5, a FM83 Handicap over 1800m.

The cherry on the top was the lightning delay before Race 6. Many punters with live Pick 6 tickets must have been praying for the remainder of the meeting to be abandoned, but their prayers went unanswered.

At least punters will have an opportunity today to recoup some losses when eight races are carded for Kenilworth.

The fields are quite small and if the horses run to form, punters should be able to make small but consistent profits throughout the day.