Blaze Of Fire wins but other results not friendly to punters
BLAZE Of Fire (5-2) came out firing on a day of upsets when he won the Listed Friendly City Stakes over 1 800m from start to finish at Fairview yesterday.
After finishing a respectable 4,95 lengths behind Futura in the Grade 1 Beach Beauty Champions Cup at Greyville last weekend, the Yvette Bremner-trained son of Victory Moon enjoyed the drop in class this time to win by 1.25 lengths, beating Silent Partner (14-1) into second place. Lord Badger (17-2) was third and House Of Wax (40-1) fourth.
Blaze Of Fire immediately took the lead with House Of Wax at the back of the field. With 1 100m to run Blaze Of Fire was still in front, followed by Silent Partner and Two Gun Kid. At the 800m mark the order of running was unchanged with Political Playboy racing in fourth, two lengths behind the leader.
With 250m left to run Blaze Of Fire continued to roll with Silent Partner attempting to close the gap while Lord Badger was trying to issue a challenge and House Of Wax began to run on. However, Blaze Of Fire maintained his relentless gallop and it was clear 150m out nobody was going to catch him.
The victory was Blaze Of Fire’s eighth from 40 starts and he pushed his career earnings to a remarkable R904 275.
Punters had a nasty start to the meeting when 33-1 outsider Matadoras El Toros won comfortably by 2,25 lengths over 1 000m with 7-1 shot Levonca in second place. Arabica (25-1) ran third ahead of Prettyamazinggrace (8-1) to ensure a R17 395,10 Quartet dividend.
Matadoras El Toros paid R30,30 a win. Favourite Jolene (18-10) surprisingly could not run a place.
Race 2 also favoured the bookmakers when 12-1 shot Windsor won over 1 400m, followed by Simmering (161), Grand Lodge (50-1) and the favourite, Supersonic Rock (7-10). Windsor paid R9,30 a win and the Quartet R4 569,20.
But an even bigger shock awaited punters in the first leg of the Pick 6 when 55-1 outsider Special Effects, from the Steven Janse van Rensburg yard, romped home over 1 000m with Al Cappuchino (33-1) in second, Stamford Bridge (7-1) third and Forest Fighter (6-1) fourth.
The results produced some of the biggest dividends in quite a while with the Quartet pool reaching an amazing R200 146,80. Only a percentage was won and R48 207,60 was carried over. The Trifecta paid out R25 386,50.
Special Effects paid R43,70 for a win and R6,60 a place with the Exacta worth a massive R661,60.
The Pick 6 kicked off with a R56.40 dividend and only 11 020,27 tickets survived the first leg. There after the live tickets fell dramatically. After the second leg only 1 553,70 tickets went through, 117,08 after the third leg, 25 after the fourth and only 5,41 after the running of the fifth leg.
Eventually only 38% was won with R379 610 carried over.
In the Soccer 6 Conditions Stakes over 2 700m Vaughan Marshall-trained Desert Swirl was all the rage at 11-20, but it was Grant Paddock’s Combattimento (161) who won the race under a strong ride by Muzi Yeni. Combattimento paid R12,20 for a win.
Bremner was the most successful trainer on the day, while Yeni and Fransie Heroldt both rode two winners.