Drop in class favours Electric Gold

Jack Milner

Electric Gold takes a mighty drop in class at Turffontein on Tuesday and that should make him hard to beat in Race 7, a MR 100 Handicap over 2000m on the Inside track.

Trained by Tony Peter, the three-year-old Flying The Flag colt was nominated for the Hollywoodbets Durban July and was only withdrawn close to the end when it became apparent he was unlikely to make the final field.

Peter has been in outstanding form since taking out his own licence at the start of the year. He had been assistant to his father, Paul, who ended last season as champion trainer but then shocked the racing world when he decided to hand in his licence last August.

Tony clearly learned a lot from his dad and followers of the stable have been cashing in with great regularity. While he may be well behind the leading trainers in terms of the number of winners and stake money earned, his winning percentage is the highest in the country.

He has saddled 137 runners for 37 wins and 54 places. That has given him a win percentage of 27.01 and a win/place percentage of 66.42 at the time of writing.

Electric Gold has only run twice since joining him and both runs were very decent. He finished just 3.85 lengths off Pacaya in the World Sports Betting 1900 at Hollywoodbets Greyville, a race in which HDJ winner Winchester Mansion ran second, and followed that up with a 1.75-length third behind two-time Grade 1 winner Puerto Manzano in the Grade 3 Jubilee Stakes at Turffontein.

He carried 52kg in both of those races and will have 60kg on his back this time, but the average merit ratings of those two races were 106 and 107 respectively while this event is 100, and that denotes the extent of the drop in class.

He wore blinkers in his last race and he is carded to run in them again. It is also worth noting he did win his only start at the course.

Denis Schwarz has been riding the wave of success for the stable and is currently enjoying a purple patch of his own. He gets the ride on Electric Gold for the first time.

Once one looks past Electric Gold there are a number of in-form runners with winning chances. Millahue is weighted to turn the tables on Raffles based on their last run while Zuzan has won four of his last five races.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 7 Thing Called Love, 5 Green Garnet, 3 Circle Of Grace, 1 Ampersand

Race 2: 8 Wonder I Do, 2 Duenna, 4 Gotcha Buzz, 1 Arabian Red

Race 3: 6 Fostinovo, 1 Moonshiningthrough, 3 Thunderstone, 4 Tsar Bomba

Race 4: 10 Silver Hunt, 2 Antananarivo, 1 Aunt Pittypat, 3 Lady Dynamo

Race 5: 9 Leao Alado, 1 Sword Of Mercy, 7 Impersonation, 3 Youre My Sunshine

Race 6: 8 Gilda Gray, 7 Call The Wind, 3 Paschals Samore, 4 Turn The Page

Race 7: 1 Electric Gold, 6 Millahue, 3 Raffles, 4 Zuzan

Race 8: 7 Funky Music, 3 Nazare, 5 Green Sceptre, 6 After Hours

BEST BET

Race 7 No 1 Electric Gold

VALUE BET

Race 5 No 9 Leao Alado

BEST SWINGER

Race 8 3x7

BIPOT

R216

Leg 1: 3, 5, 7

Leg 2: 2, 8

Leg 3: 1, 6

Leg 4: 2, 10

Leg 5: 1, 7, 9

Leg 6: 3, 7, 8

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R144

Leg 1: 2, 8

Leg 2: 1, 6

Leg 3: 2, 10

Leg 4: 1, 7, 9

Leg 5: 3, 7, 8

Leg 6: 1

Leg 7: 3, 7

PICK 6

R960

Leg 1: 1, 3, 6

Leg 2: 1, 2, 3, 10

Leg 3: 1, 3, 7, 9

Leg 4: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8

Leg 5: 1

Leg 6: 3, 5, 6, 7

JACKPOT 1

R80

Leg 1: 1, 2, 3, 10

Leg 2: 1, 3, 7, 9

Leg 3: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8

Leg 4: 1

JACKPOT 2

R80

Leg 1: 1, 3, 7, 9

Leg 2: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8

Leg 3: 1

Leg 4: 3, 5, 6, 7