Jack Milner: Many horses tend to be a little bit naughty in their debut runs but one would hope that the experience will see lots of improvement in their next start.
Unless, of course, your name happens to be Alittlebitnaughty.
The daughter of Duke Of Marmalade was not short of betting support on her debut run over 1400m on the Polytrack at Greyville on 2 June and went off at 9-2. Her supporters must have started to feel some confidence going through the 400m mark when she moved up under Warren Kennedy to challenge for the lead.
However, she tired a little in the closing stages and was beaten into third place by Capetown Beauty, a 20-1 two-year-old filly trained by Wayne Badenhorst and ironically Barbara Kennedy, the wife of jockey Warren Kennedy.
The Gareth van Zyl-trained runner, though, will have benefited from that run and lines up for her second start in Race 3 at Greyville on Monday, again on the Polytrack.
Alittlebitnaughty might have found 1400m a touch far for her at this stage of her career but this time she will race over 1200m and that could make all the difference.
She has drawn No 9 which is not a great barrier from which to jump but on the Polytrack they tend to race off the fence and based on her first run, she does appear to possess the necessary gate speed to overcome that hurdle.
It is worth noting that Kennedy has stuck with her and on a typically competitive Monday card, Alittlebitnaughty stands out as the best bet on the card.
It could be worth taking Swingers with Garth Puller-trained Indomavel. She has placed in her last three starts, two of them on the Polytrack, and might have found 1600m too far last time and could enjoy the drop to 1200m.
Jack Milner’s selections
Race 1: 3 Rodriguez, 1 Seventh Song, 7 Master Dancer, 5 Tilmeeth
Race 2: 3 What A Blast, 1 Red Eight, 4 Running Freely, 5 Alphamikefoxtrot
Race 3: 9 Alittlebitnaughty, 6 Indomavel, 7 Greengrowthelilacs, 10 Mezzyoona
Race 4: 7 Miss Emblem, 11 Catch The Tune, 1 Kunta Kinte, 3 Deep Global
Race 5: 3 The Snow War, 7 Twice The Flight, 6 Wintertime, 10 Cool Apache
Race 6: 9 Alsflamingbeauty, 3 Boogie Shoes, 5 Maidens Prayer, 4 Miss Charlotte
Race 7: 1 Montana Sky, 9 Brandenburg, 3 Higher Purpose, 6 Rockcliffe
Race 8: 3 Fireonthetrack, 1 Tom Bombadil, 4 Philispiel, 11 Perfectly Putt
Race 9: 8 Mind Set, 5 Lavu Lavu, 11 Beckoning Beauty, 3 Noemi
BEST BET
Race 3 No 9 Alittlebitnaughty
VALUE BET
Race 6 No 9 Alsflamingbeauty
BEST SWINGER
Race 3 6×9
BIPOT
R216
Leg 1: 1, 3
Leg 2: 9
Leg 3: 1, 7, 11
Leg 4: 3, 6, 7, 10
Leg 5: 3, 5, 9
Leg 6: 1, 3, 9
PLACE ACCUMULATOR
R324
Leg 1: 9
Leg 2: 1, 7, 11
Leg 3: 3, 6, 7
Leg 4: 3, 5, 9
Leg 5: 1, 9
Leg 6: 1, 3
Leg 7: 5, 8, 11
PICK 6
R1944
Leg 1: 1, 7, 11
Leg 2: 1, 3, 6, 7, 10, 12
Leg 3: 3, 5, 9
Leg 4: 1, 3, 9
Leg 5: 1, 3
Leg 6: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 11
JACKPOT 1
R108
Leg 1: 1, 3, 6, 7, 10, 12
Leg 2: 3, 5, 9
Leg 3: 1, 3, 9
Leg 4: 1, 3
JACKPOT 2
R108
Leg 1: 3, 5, 9
Leg 2: 1, 3, 9
Leg 3: 1, 3
Leg 4: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 11