Whilst the universal rate for winning favorites from a massive sample over time is around 35%, the wisdom of crowds sometimes ensures that they win at an even better rate in the short term. Three of the four sprint features at Scottsville’s Day of Speed went to obvious market leaders, with the other race
Favoured at 18/10 in the G1 Daily News, See It Again was conserved off the searching pace set by Dave the King before jockey Piere Strydom let him lose at the top of the straight. The Twice Over gelding’s turbo boosted engine kicked in and he stormed past rivals, overwhelming Dave the King (speed
Greyville staged quality racing on a rain softened surface over the weekend. Pacaya (speed score of 106 +) fought off a late charging Winchester Mansion (s/s 105) in the G2 WSB 1900 to put himself right in the picture for the Durban July. The Justin Snaith trained entry is very smart and is now
The two Guineas’ run at Greyville on Saturday produced polar opposite results. Charles Dickens (speed score 109 +) romped in the colt’s version at 6/10 just as the masses expected, but Peach Daiquiri caught most punters unawares as she surprised at 33/1 in a slow run and rough Fillies race. Charles Dickens settled midfield
In news from the UK, a Tote Placepot paid out a £30,013 dividend to a £1 stake at Newbury on Saturday, with just three units surviving the six legs. No favourites won and two short-price favourites were unplaced. The Brits have generally preferred fixed odds punting and multiples like the Lucky 15, but their
The outstanding, Desert Miracle’s defeat of tremendous three-year-old filly Feather Boa in the G1 Empress Club Stakes at Turffontein was the clear highlight of this weekend’s SA racing action. The high-class duo ran big numbers of 114 and 112 respectively. Desert Miracle was uber- impressive as a juvenile, then became somewhat constrained by breathing
Michael Robert’s Captain of All gelding, Renaissance Man (speed score 102) fought out a thriller at Scottsville, just sneaking in from low-flying, top weight, Isivunguvungu (has run 109 @ best) to cause a 16/1 upset in a Pinnacle Stakes. Renaissance Man has run nine times over 1000m for three wins, coming into the race
Speed figure merchants found it frustratingly difficult to make accurate track variants over the weekend at both Turffontein and Durbanville due to heavy rain and deteriorating surfaces. Usually, it’s possible to analyze the difference between the expected time for any class of race over a specific distance at a certain course and the actual
Alula’s Star and appy Mxoli continued their special association, winning their sixth race, and second Stakes together, from 19 starts, in the Grade 3 Sycamore Sprint at Turffontein on Saturday. Alula’s Star (speed score 99) is sired by Red Ray, himself an accomplished sprinter who used to run figures of 109 back in the
The Highveld Autumn season continued at Turffontein on Saturday with some fine performances in Graded races. Highlights were both Classic races for three-year-olds, the second Leg of the Triple Crown/Tiara. Under Your Spell, a Capetown Noir filly, took out the Hawaii Stakes (G2) as she accelerated swiftly in the centre of the track to