Fillies favoured in Sea Cottage Stakes

Jack Milner

The start of the SA Triple Crown and the Wilgerbosdrift Triple Tiara is just two weeks away and there are a number of warm-up races to give the contenders a decent preparation for the three races which make up the two competitions.

The Sea Cottage Stakes is one of these and the Grade 3 race over 1800m will be run on the Standside track at Turffontein on Sunday.

This race is run at weight-for-age terms and fillies get their 2.5kg sex allowance and as a result it is the two fillies in the field, None Other and Bonete, who come out as the best weighted runners.

None Other, in particular, has excellent form and showed her class with a second place in the Grade 3 Fillies Mile followed up with an emphatic victory in a MR 89 Handicap for fillies and mares over 1800m on the Vaal Classic course.

By Flower Alley out of Dynasty mare One Of A Kind will improve the further she goes. Her last race was the first time she tried 1800m and one gets the impression she could be tough to beat in the Grade 1 Wilgerbosdrift SA Fillies Classic over 1800m and the Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks over 2450m.

S’manga Khumalo has ridden None Other in her last three races and he has stuck with the Lucky Houdalakis-trained filly.

The other filly in the line-up is Bonete and while she has only raced three times, she could be something special. Trained by Mike de Kock, this grey Querari filly won impressively on debut and then went into the Fillies Mile as favourite. However, he lost whatever chance she may have had when her saddle slipped.

In that run, she did finish some four lengths behind None Other but then showed her true mettle with a victory in a MR 89 Handicap for three-year-olds when beating Pragmatist by 0.90 lengths.

Pragmatist is also in the race but he will be 5kg worse off with Bonete and the Johan Janse van Vuuren-trained runner will need to find something special to turn that around.

Maharanee was one of the best two-year-old fillies but she is quite temperamental and did not enjoy her trip to Durban during the winter season and finished unplaced in the Grade 2 Golden Slipper.

She moved to the Johan Janse van Vuuuren’s stable when Paul Peter gave up training and has only had one run. Unfortunately, it went wrong when she stumbled and unseated jockey Gavin Lerena.

Maharanee tries again in Race 6 on Sunday, the Listed Swallow Stakes over 1160m. She is the best weighted runner and is close to her best, the daughter of Flower Alley could be hard to beat, especially with Keagan de Melo in the irons.

The obvious danger is Sweet Pepper, winner of the Grade 1 Allan Robertson Championship at Hollywoodbets Scottsville over 1200m. She has battled a little since but it could be significant that trainer Sean Tarry has fitted a set of blinkers for this run.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 11 Storm Dominator, 8 Radu, 7 Heart Of Eternity, 4 Tsitsikamma Pearl

Race 2: 2 Cape Lights, 10 Follow The Flow, 3 Spirit Princess, 1 Island Beauty

Race 3: 10 National Star, 2 Broadway, 4 Camlicourt, 1 Spring Will Come

Race 4: 5 Golden Prospect, 3 Unzen, 4 Raffles, 6 Houston

Race 5: 7 Sheldon, 6 Anfields Rocket, 3 Constable, 1 Danilo Danilovitch

Race 6: 2 Maharanee, 1 Sweet Pepper, 7 Southern Skies, 6 Kiss Me Captain

Race 7: 10 Bonete, 9 None Other, 4 African Torrent, 3 Pragmatist

Race 8: 1 Celestial City, 6 Last Cheer, 2 Duke Of Rain, 3 Forged By Fire

BEST BET

Race 8 No 1 Celestial City

VALUE BET

Race 1 No 11 Storm Dominator

BEST SWINGER

Race 3 2x10

BIPOT

R324

Leg 1: 7, 8, 11

Leg 2: 2, 10

Leg 3: 2, 10

Leg 4: 3, 4, 5

Leg 5: 3, 6, 7

Leg 6: 1, 2, 7

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R144

Leg 1: 2, 10

Leg 2: 2, 10

Leg 3: 3, 5

Leg 4: 3, 6, 7

Leg 5: 1, 2, 7

Leg 6: 9, 10

Leg 7: 1

PICK 6

R1200

Leg 1: 2, 4, 10

Leg 2: 3, 4, 5, 6

Leg 3: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7

Leg 4: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7

Leg 5: 3, 4, 9, 10

Leg 6: 1

JACKPOT 1

R400

Leg 1: 3, 4, 5, 6

Leg 2: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7

Leg 3: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7

Leg 4: 3, 4, 9, 10

JACKPOT 2

R100

Leg 1: 1, 3, 4, 6, 7

Leg 2: 1, 2, 5, 6, 7

Leg 3: 3, 4, 9, 10

Leg 4: 1