whipping boy
The easiest races from which to harvest winners are maiden plates _ which are
restricted to horses that have not yet won. It is in these races that as-yet-
unknown future champions come up against animals of modest ability, some of which may never savour a victory.
When horses of widely differing ability race against each other carrying level
weights it should be easier to select those with the best chance of winning.
Spotting a good one early in his or her career, maybe even before anyone else
has wised up, can be very lucrative. Similarly, novice plates (for one-time winners) and graduation plates (for one- and two-time winners) can deliver good
dividends.
The rub with races in the lower divisions is that form is often scanty _ the
really good ones don_t race there for long _ and lightly raced thoroughbreds
tend to show varying degrees of improvement in the first few runs of their careers.
At Gosforth Park, Germiston, on Saturday Piere Strydom rides the fast- improving
Symphonic Dance in the fourth race, a fillies maiden over 1 400m. The champion-
jockey-elect should get her over from an outside draw on the back straight and
she needs just the least bit of improvement to beat Penny Kimberley_s consistent
place-getter, Crystal.
Symphonic Dance drew a fair amount of betting support at her second start (which
means her connections fancied her chances) but ran poorly. She showed vastly
more zip nine days later when starting at 25-1 and finishing third to the well-
regarded import Chez Marscay.
In the eighth, a fillies graduation over the sprint course, Barend Vorster tries
to steer Gateway to their third win from their five outings together. She looks
classy, has been consistently supported and hopefully her first experience with
blinkers will be a happy one.
At Scottsville, La Premiere will start at short odds to break the ice in the
first, a fillies maiden over 1 200m. She is a daughter of champion filly Shepherd_s Moon and has been a runner-up twice in three starts. However, first-
timer Bal Gal, a full sister to smart filly Golden Silvino, has Jeff Lloyd at
the controls and may very well be a market springer.
Lloyd also throws his leg over the promising Gauteng raider Saratoga in the eighth, a mixed graduation plate over a mile. This Roy Magner-trained gelding
has run well against classier individuals and should improve over this distance
in his second run after a five-month lay-off.
Just half an hour later Summer Place should notch up her first win in the ninth,
but don_t expect any sort of odds on her as she meets a really modest field.
At Kenilworth, Cape Town, on Sunday four-year-old Brave Vixen has just the one
win to show from 23 runs but she has far better recent form than anything else
in the race and should come home in the fourth, a fillies novice over 1 800m.
Ice-cool Karl Neisius will probably be a warm order aboard Mariposa in the eighth, a fillies maiden over the undulating Kenilworth six furlongs. Support
for this one could make space for decent odds on Snake Charm, which could slide
in under talented Mark Khan.
Whatever you do, make it pay.