Talk about a hard day at the office.
Well, Friday at Fairview was tough as nails for horses, jockeys, and punters alike, especially Pick 6 players.
With a howling Southwester gusting up to 50km/h, many of the favourites saw their winning chances blown away. The frontrunners especially found it hard to maintain their efforts over the last 400m down the home straight against the headwind. This resulted in some eye-watering dividends.
In race 3, the first leg of the Pick 6, Robert Khathi steered R11-winner Euphoric to victory for trainer Jacques Strydom.
Immediately after, jockey Jabu Jacobs and Prince Vihaan caused an even bigger upset, with the Lunga Gila-trained five-year-old paying R14.10 for the win. Fairy Knight, the tote favourite ridden by Richard Fourie for trainer Alan Greeff, never got into the race and finished in fifth position, more than three lengths behind the winner.
Prince Vihaan’s courageous effort gave Gila his second winner of the current campaign.
“Honestly, he’s a very nice big boy,” said Gila after Prince Vihaan’s win.
“He always works good at home. I was a bit disappointed with his last two or three runs, but I asked the owner to be patient, this is a very nice horse, and I believed he has a chance to win another race or two.”
Prince Vihaan proved Gila correct and now boasts five career wins from 27 runs.
With Silver Tycoon, El Romiachi, and Flame Flower securing the places, the quartet paid a whopping R52,327.
In race 6, the fourth leg of the Pick 6, tote favourite Hasta Lavista Baby, also from Greeff’s yard, looked a million dollars going to the start, but he flattered to deceive, finishing nowhere near R7-paying Golden Pacific for trainer Gavin Smith with S’manga Khumalo in the saddle.
Undoubtedly, Hasta Lavista Baby will be back.
With two legs still to be run, there were just 60 live Pick 6 tickets. That dropped down to 6,1 after Muzi Yeni steered Life On Mars over the line first for Smith in Race 7.
That victory did ensure Smith finished a very difficult day with four winners.
Clap Of Thunder, paying R13.50 for the win, ended the nightmare Pick 6, with only 27 percent of the R460,795 pool won. - 4Racing