The Citizen (Gauteng)

Pick 6 the best play

PERCENTAGE: EXOTICS EXPECTED TO PAY BIG SO NO NEED TO BE GREEDY

- Jack Milner

Master Of Destiny looks a possible banker.

Atypical Monday racecard faces punters at Greyville today where racing is once again on the Polytrack. The meeting is made up of two Maiden Plates and seven low-level handicaps, the highest of these being two MR 72 Handicaps over 1400m in Race 6 and 7.

This could be a meeting to get into the Pick 6 but as this bet looks likely to produce a big payout, one should be bold, but careful not to be greedy. It could be worth loading the fields and taking a percentage, the size of which is based on what one can afford.

There are no standout bankers in the Pick 6 but a strong possibilit­y comes up in one of those MR 72 Handicaps.

In Race 7 Dennis Drier saddles Master Of Destiny, who has a lot going for him. Firstly, the fouryear-old Master Of My Fate gelding has a decent enough record on the Polytrack, having raced seven times for one win and two places. That win was over this distance and came up in his penultimat­e start where he proved victorious in a MR 79 Handicap.

That was against a stronger field than he meets in this event.

Master Of Destiny has the advantage of jumping from No 2 draw and will have regular jockey Sean Veale in the irons. Veale has ridden him 10 times for a win, two seconds and a third.

He is also one of those horses who performs well on both surfaces and last time may have been a touch unlucky not to have got up to beat Tom Bombadil on the Greyville turf track. As it was, Master Of Destiny ran on strongly under Veale and missed by a neck to catch the winner.

Once you start looking beyond him, this race becomes very open although Canadian Bolt, Sovereign Soldier and Euphoric look his main dangers.

There looks to be a lot of value bets on this card is you catch it right and one of those could be Eager Duchess in Race 8, a MR 63 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1400m.

Jockey Lyle Hewitson and trainer Gareth van Zyl team up with this three-year-old daughter of Duke Of Marmalade and both of them are currently in good form.

She has raced four times on the Polytrack since joining the Van Zyl Jnr yard and while she has finished unplaced in all of them, she has not been far off the winner. Three runs back Eager Duchess raced over this course and distance and went down just 2.45 lengths.

There were excuses as she clipped the heels of another runner and could have ended up closer. Since then, her merit rating has dropped seven points (3.5kg) and with the aid of some Hewitson magic making full use of No 1 draw, this filly looks to be in the right field.

 ?? Picture: Gold Circle ?? STRONG FORM. Master Of Destiny looks the best banker on today’s Greyville card when he run in Race 7 over 1400m on the Polytrack.
Picture: Gold Circle STRONG FORM. Master Of Destiny looks the best banker on today’s Greyville card when he run in Race 7 over 1400m on the Polytrack.

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