Jack Milner
Last season’s two-year-old form will be tested at Fairview on Tuesday when Fiery Countess lines up in Race 6, a MR 74 Handicap over 1200m on the Polytrack.
Alan Greeff demonstrated in no uncertain terms that his two-year-old fillies were the best in the land with feature-race victories all over the country. It will be interesting to see how they train on but in the meantime this Gavin Smith-trained daughter of Fire Away could set the early tone for the season.
Fiery Countess has run against all three of Greeff’s runners – Anotherdanceforme, Direct Hit and Golden – without any success. She did place in a couple of the races, her best performance coming in the East Cape Fillies Nursery over 1200m where she ran a 5.25-length second behind Anotherdanceforme.
She went off the boil later in the season when tried over further but what does stand out is that Fiery Countess’ lone win was over 1000m at his course, her only race so far on the Polytrack.
She will be equally competitive over this distance and despite returning from a 74-day break, she should be able to take care of this field.
The stable have started the season well enough and should pick up another victory with this filly. Calvin Habib takes the ride for the first time.
Ridgemont bred-and-owned Walkonthewildside is clearly talented, but she has proven to be a difficult ride.
Richard Fourie managed to win three of the seven times he rode her, but she is often slowly away and tends to lose interest in the race until deep into the straight.
The Greeff-trained filly has finished runner-up in her last three starts. Ridgemont-retained Gareth Wright was aboard the Gimmethegreenlight filly for the first time when finishing two lengths behind rival Three Cheers over this course and distance last month and he will be back aboard in Race 4, a MR 80 Handicap for fillies and mares over 2000m.
There is a 6.5kg swing in the weights in her favour, which should be more than enough to turn the tables for Walkonthewildside. If there is a genuine pace and she gets luck in running, she should win.
Greeff can also pull off a victory in Race 7, a MR 80 Handicap over 1400m, with Chili Bomb. Once in a while, Greeff gives second or third choice jockeys a horse that can win, and this could be the case again.
While she placed in races on the Highveld as well as in KwaZulu-Natal, she remained a maiden but once this daughter of Lancaster Bomber joined Greeff’s yard, she quickly found her form. Chili Bomb won back-to-back races on the Polytrack and followed those wins with a runner-up performance behind Champonelle. That form has worked out nicely, and jockey Kendall Minnie can have a rare winner.
Earlier on the card, Race 3 should go the way of Global Scene. This four-year-old filly has reached 17 starts without a win, but a step up in distance and now being under the care of Juan Nel has seen her improve. She should beat some modest rivals in this Open Maiden for fillies and mares over 2000m.
Chad Little is having an excellent winning run since returning to race riding and is travelling all over the country to pick up mounts and at this early stage of the season he is joint leader on the log with S’manga Khumalo. Both have ridden seven winners in the first 10 days of the season.
Little should bring home yet another winner aboard this filly who stands out as the best bet on quite a tricky card.
Jack Milner’s selections
Race 1: 8 Iced Marmalade, 9 Party Girl, 1 Palancar, 2 Fizzly Bubbly
Race 2: 1 Laugh Till I Cry, 2 Oh Mandy, 5 Fantasy Girl, 3 Bird On A Wing
Race 3: 1 Global Scene, 2 Welsh Starlet, 7 Cheap Thrills, 3 Preserve Forever
Race 4: 1 Walkonthewildside, 5 Three Cheers, 10 Darling Harbour, 8 Ono No Komachi
Race 5: 6 Haarlem, 7 George Handel, 5 Roll Of The Dice, 2 Star Coin
Race 6: 8 Fiery Countess, 5 Marshmallow, 6 Strange Magic, 2 Strata
Race 7: 1 Chili Bomb, 3 Final Try, 7 Tintamarre, 9 Silver Tycoon
Race 8: 6 Alex Miller, 1 Miss Shaivi, 4 Lady Luck, 3 Spoil Yourself
BEST BET
Race 3: 1 Global Scene
VALUE BET
Race 7: 1 Chili Bomb
BEST SWINGER
Race 2 1x2
BIPOT
R144
Leg 1: 8, 9
Leg 2: 1, 2
Leg 3: 1
Leg 4: 1, 5, 10
Leg 5: 2, 5, 6, 7
Leg 6: 5, 6, 8
PLACE ACCUMULATOR
R162
Leg 1: 1
Leg 2: 1
Leg 3: 1, 5
Leg 4: 5, 6, 7
Leg 5: 5, 6, 8
Leg 6: 1, 3, 7
Leg 7: 1, 4, 6
PICK 6
R1296
Leg 1: 1
Leg 2: 1, 5, 10
Leg 3: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Leg 4: 5, 6, 8
Leg 5: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9
Leg 6: 1, 3, 4, 6
JACKPOT 1
R324
Leg 1: 1, 5, 10
Leg 2: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Leg 3: 5, 6, 8
Leg 4: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9
JACKPOT 2
R432
Leg 1: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Leg 2: 5, 6, 8
Leg 3: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9
Leg 4: 1, 3, 4, 6