Chollima to win Derby
OPPOSITION: KOTZEN RUNNER HAS RACED AGAINST STRONGER OPPOSITION
Smith looks to be the local hopeful.
Hopefully nobody suffers from friggatriskaidekaphobia ahead of today’s race meeting at Fairview. The meaning of that is described as an “irrational fear of Friday the 13th” and that is what we have today.
However, the key to the definition is the word irrational, for many people 13 is a lucky number and hopefully that will be the case on this occasion as we celebrate a massive Pick 6 pool at Fairview Racecourse where they will be running the R350,000 World Sports Betting East Cape Derby over 2400m.
Catching the Pick 6 will be high on the list of priorities for bettors as it will start off with a carryover of R500,000 with the pool likely to reach R2 million.
As expected, trainers from the Western Cape will be bringing runners to Fairview to compete in the Derby and all of Justin Snaith, Candice Bass-Robinson, Glen Kotzen and Andre Nel have runners in the event while KwaZulu-Natal-based Kom Naidoo, who has a yard in Port Elizabeth, has four challengers.
What will make life tricky for bettors is that only two of the runners, both trained by Zietsman Oosthuizen, have run over the distance.
But there are some very well-bred protagonists who could easily enjoy the 2400m trip.
The first choice has to be Kotzen-trained Chollima as he has run against far better than he meets on this occasion and has performed particularly well since having been gelded.
He has been running in feature races against the likes of Pomp And Power, Double Superlative and Universal.
He did not perform well in the Grade 1 Cape Guineas but was only beaten 5.75 lengths by Universal in the Grade 3 Politician Stakes over 1800m at Kenilworth in his first run after having been gelded.
He ran a very decent 0.40-length fourth behind Policy Target over 2000m at Kenilworth and last time ran a 1.90-length third behind Gem King in the Grade 3 Variety Club Stakes over 1600m.
He is drawn widest of all at No 16 but over 2400m, it shouldn’t trouble jockey Corne Orffer too badly.
Snaith has two runners and although he has not raced beyond 1600m, Top Quality could be the pick of the pair. He has been recently gelded and had a promising comeback run and as a son of Dynasty, he should stay. Richard Fourie rides.
Snaith also has Silvano gelding I Want It All with Louis Mxothwa up but they are drawn at No 14 while Bass-Robinson saddles Over Two You who is only drawn a spot better at No 13. They all need to be included, as does Andre Nel-trained Futurismo.
The local challenge is headed up by Gavin Smith who has Peace In Our World and You Know Who.