Jack Milner
Craig Zackey and trainer Lucky Houdalakis have formed quite a formidable team of late and their statistics are quite revealing.
Based on the latest available figures over the past two years, Zackey has won 20.8% of his rides for the stable but their win/place figures are even more revealing, currently standing at a remarkable 60%.
That means that when you are looking for a Place Accumulator runner, one should give careful attention to their combination.
Thursday’s racing is on the Turffontein Inside track and Houdalakis and Zackey have some decent groupings. Possibly the best on the day look to be Quickfreeze in Race 3 and Agoge in Race 4.
Three-year-old Quickfreeze lines up in a Graduation Plate over 1450m and looks ready to continue his hot run. He has raced three times, finishing second to highly regarded Tintin on debut 1200m and then followed that up with two facile victories, the first over 1200m and the second over 1450m.
This will be his first run at this track but he looks ideally suited to the course.
The Querari colt announced himself in no uncertain terms last time when brushing aside older rivals on his handicap debut, showing both tactical speed and a decisive turn of foot. An eight-point penalty and a full 60kg are obvious obstacles on paper, but this is a horse going the right way - fast. If he is as good as he looked last time, the weight won’t stop him, so it should pay to follow his progress closely.
That Zackey sticks with Quickfreeze rather than Sean Tarry’s smart Speedman is a telling piece of jockey intelligence. The latter, a Vercingetorix gelding with plenty upside, lost nothing in defeat when tasting his first career loss last time and he remains one for the black book.
However, the rider’s choice strongly suggests the Houdalakis runner is the one with the bigger engine right now.
One race later Zackey and Houdalakis team up with Agoge in a MR 84 Handicap over 1800m and this is another three-year-old who looks to have loads of ability. The Gimmethegreenlight gelding has raced just four times, yielding two wins, a narrow second and one disappointing effort. The latter was in the Grade 3 Got The Greenlight Stakes where he lost ground at the start and trailed in at the back of the field.
That race was won by Splittheeights who went on to capture the Grade 2 TAB Gauteng Guineas last Saturday, beating a potent field of three-year-olds.
Agoge rebounded sharply from that misfire over 1400m to beat older horses under a stiff weight over 1600m last time. The extra 200m should be right up his alley and, while an eight-point rise demands caution, further improvement is very much on the cards.
He is also having his first run on this track and is drawn widest of all but over 1800m and in a nine-horse field that is unlikely to prove too much of an impediment.
Jack Milner’s selections
Race 1: 1 Lance Alot, 2 Ubermensch, 7 Lookout Mountain, 5 Rock My Boat
Race 2: 1 Hot Cocoa, 2 Power Of Pearls, 10 Gimmesumluv, 8 Asminderod
Race 3: 1 Quickfreeze, 2 Speedman, 7 Believe In Fate, 6 Golden Operator
Race 4: 2 Agoge, 4 Buddy Boy, 8 Master Spy, 3 Johnny Drama
Race 5: 8 Robert Browning, 9 One More Star, 4 Soldier's Eye, 7 Tommy Shelby
Race 6: 4 Time Will Tell, 6 Time For Charity, 8 Zoombomber, 1 Tiger Storm
Race 7: 6 Care Forgot, 5 Hong Kong, 8 Malibu, 4 Blind Ambition
Race 8: 2 Vamanos, 1 Play With TheWind, 3 Bright And Brazen, 9 Sheets And Goggles
BEST BET
Race 4: 2 Agoge
VALUE BET
Race 1: 1 Lance Alot
BEST SWINGER
Race 3 1x2
BIPOT
R216
Leg 1: 1, 2, 10
Leg 2: 1, 2
Leg 3: 2
Leg 4: 4, 7, 8, 9
Leg 5: 4, 6, 8
Leg 6: 5, 6, 8
PLACE ACCUMULATOR
R144
Leg 1: 1, 2
Leg 2: 1, 2
Leg 3: 2
Leg 4: 4, 8, 9
Leg 5: 4, 6
Leg 6: 5, 6, 8
Leg 7: 1, 2
PICK 6
R900
Leg 1: 1, 2, 7
Leg 2: 2
Leg 3: 1, 4, 7, 8, 9
Leg 4: 1, 4, 6, 8
Leg 5: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8
Leg 6: 1, 2, 3
JACKPOT 1
R100
Leg 1: 2
Leg 2: 1, 4, 7, 8, 9
Leg 3: 1, 4, 6, 8
Leg 4: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8
JACKPOT 2
R300
Leg 1: 1, 4, 7, 8, 9
Leg 2: 1, 4, 6, 8
Leg 3: 3, 4, 5, 6, 8
Leg 4: 1, 2, 3