The
Daily News and the
Woolavington generate debate each year as they can be important pointers to the
Durban July.
The races run Saturday at Greyville could not have gone more differently.
Wish List scraped home by a whisker over
Minogue in a patently false run
Woolavington, whilst
Star Major came from last with a storming finish to beat off
Happy Verse,
Note To Self and fading pacemaker,
Viva’s Liberte s/s 102 in the
Daily News.
What to make of it all? Reading too much into false run contests is usually an error. The mare
Minogue typically runs speed figures of 100 and was actually unlucky to get beat as her rider Muzi Yeni dropped his rein in the drive to the line. Apart from that “blapsie,” Yeni had done so well to dictate, then skip clear, in what nearly proved a race-winning move on the massive longshot.
Wish List had to dash through the final 800 in 46.1 seconds and the closing 400 in 22.8 seconds to land the odds for panicky punters who had plunged on Justin Snaith’s 1/3 favourite in fixed odds wagers/multiples. So, credit is due to
Wish List for getting up under Andrew Fortune, but the best speed figure I can give her, even with a big sectional upgrade is 100, below her previous top of 106.
Star Major was sensational in the
Daily News, just as he’d been in the
KZN Guineas when hurtling from dead last to nail
Tin Pan Alley. He again had to pass the entire field at the top of the short Greyville straight, a closing burst in 22.4 seconds saw him draw off for another convincing, big figure victory.
After crunching the numbers, it could be worth around 113, an outstanding effort for a 3-year-old. James Crawford trains, and Mickaela Michel rode the high-class son of
Querari with fine judgement.
Happy Verse s/s 109 is making heartening progress after a rest and gelding and really appeals as the sort to be primed third up for a tilt at the
Durban July.
Note to Self s/s 105 stayed on into third and he may well drift in betting for the DJ, for which he was ante-post favourite. It’s not as if he ran badly in the
Daily News, but more pizzaz will be needed to win the big one.
Bio: Mark van Deventer has been refining his speed figures for thoroughbred racehorses over three decades. A full-time racing journalist since 2013, he’s known for his integrity and imaginative handicapping, adapting the principles of Andrew Beyer’s figures to South African racecourses.
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