I’d love to be proven wrong in my belief that Phumelela’s revamped superfecta bet will be every bit as neglected as the original. Trying to select the first six runners past the post, besides being tedious, is also dangerous, especially with the betting unit raised from 10c to R1 with a minimum 10% fractional bet accepted.
The idea seems to be to give bigger punters something to play for. But if the guaranteed pool of R100 000 is to be subsidised by smaller punters, the imagination-deficient idea deserves more than just being ignored. Hopefully this won’t be the case. And hopefully a small punter will have the cheek to scoop it!
Admittedly, the new provision for an “any order” winner and a new must-be-won component will make the bet that much easier to land, but that is more than offset by the tenfold increase in the minimum betting unit.
Renaming the revamped superfecta the “supa tupa” is surely Phumelela’s finest hour. The Newmarket card on Thursday night, where the supa tupa makes its entrance, is headed by two C division handicaps and hardly sparkles. In the “big race” (the sixth) the Mike de Kock-trained filly Jewel of Hanui has a good chance of taking the spoils.
The De Kock stable is firing and Daisy Dear, in her second run after a long rest, is not out of it. Shenzi, Drum Point, Waimate, Emulate and Night Drive are others who could make their presence felt in an open contest. Tread carefully.
The best bets for the night, however, could come in the three juvenile events on the card. Saffire, a son of Fard, made a smart debut when third to Hinterland over this course and distance and is the one to beat in the opener. Barfly, King of Queens, Guest Badge, Divine Neptune and Weston Blaze are threats.
In the second the David Ferraris-trained Queen of Dance returns to the Newmarket 1200m, scene of her best run before a below-par performance over the Gosforth Park 1000m. Lilium Regale has met stronger and could give her the most to do. Laughing Bride is coming on in leaps and bounds.
Singing Emblem from the in-form Charles Laird stable could wrap up the third after his sparkling debut five weeks ago when he went down a short-head to Blitzkrieg.
In the ninth, Smart Man could be just good enough to beat a moderate bunch.
At Gosforth Park on Friday a couple of interesting showdowns between promising three-year-olds are the highlights of the programme.
In the fifth, Classic Lord, third in the Cape Derby at his penultimate start, may battle to give 2,5kg to Australian-bred Tytola, who seems to be heading back to best form.
In the seventh, Lite Spark, a classy transfer to the De Kock yard, has to give Geoff Woodruff’s very promising Dance Celebre 2kg while also coming to the track for the first time this year. Ferraris’s consistent Ballerina, a further 2,5kg down the scale, deserves consideration simply because the other two may both not run up to scratch. She will certainly give of her best.
Real Machine in the work riders’ race (the second) looks a sitter.