They say you have to speculate to accumulate, and that looks to be the case with racing at Hollywoodbets Greyville these days where the Exotics have been paying – to use a colloquialism – bombs.
That looks to be the case again today when they race on the Polytrack. The card is competitive and one needs to find a banker, so perhaps the best runner on which to speculate is Lion’s Head in Race 7, a MR 90 Handicap over 1400m.
As a rule, Cape Town form is stronger than that of KwaZulu-Natal but the Polytrack is often the great leveller. One of the key items in favour of Lion’s Head is that he raced on this Polytrack last season. That was over 1200m and he went down just 0.30 lengths to Naval Secret.
Then, at the start of the new season, Dean Kannemeyer’s charge raced again over 1400m on the Greyville turf track and came away a very comfortable 3.10-length victor over Chapter And Verse.
He ran off a high rating in the Western Cape but failed to win another race in his next four outings. However, he did not perform badly in any of those starts, finishing third on two occasions and not more than 5.75 lengths off the winner in any of those races.
After his last start at Kenilworth in December, the decision was taken to geld this three-year-old son of Dynasty and this will be his first run back in 133 days. Despite the layoff, Kannemeyer has acknowledged that his charge needs to be included in all the Exotics.
Lion’s Head takes on a decent field but perhaps he is the one all the other have to fear.
Keagan de Melo is the only jockey to have ridden Lion’s Head and he is back aboard. They jump from barrier No 7.
Jack Milner’s selections
Race 1: 9 Chollima, 2 Fassi, 3 Callmemrgreenlight, 8 Hasta Manana
Race 2: 6 Let’s Not Linger, 7 Diamonds And Toads, 1 Indomavel, 3 High Born
Race 3: 10 Decorated, 8 Mystic Master, 4 Seattle Beat, 7 Cape Foulwind
Race 4: 8 Alfonse Baby, 10 Perfect Princess, 3 Quickstep Lady, 6 Intuitive
Race 5: 8 Aalsmeer, 6 Heartsease, 3 Lundy Island, 1 Maussane
Race 6: 6 Ice Imperial, 8 Maid In France, 1 Hereinafter, 9 Soller
Race 7: 7 Lion’s Head, 9 Look For Hounds, 4 Via Salaria, 6 Maitland Magic
Race 8: 1 Purple Merchant, 8 Purple Nkanyezi, 9 Glitter And Gold, 7 Eye Catching
BEST BET
Race 7 No 7 Lion’s Head
VALUE BET
Race 8 No 1 Purple Merchant
BEST SWINGER
Race 2 6×7
BIPOT
R162
Leg 1: 2, 3, 9
Leg 2: 6
Leg 3: 4, 8, 10
Leg 4: 3, 8, 10
Leg 5: 6, 8
Leg 6: 1, 6, 8
PLACE ACCUMULATOR
R162
Leg 1: 6
Leg 2: 4, 8, 10
Leg 3: 3, 8, 10
Leg 4: 6, 8
Leg 5: 1, 6, 8
Leg 6: 7
Leg 7: 1, 8, 9
PICK 6
R2592
Leg 1: 4, 8, 10
Leg 2: 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10
Leg 3: 1, 3, 6, 8
Leg 4: 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9
Leg 5: 7
Leg 6: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9
JACKPOT 1
R144
Leg 1: 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10
Leg 2: 1, 3, 6, 8
Leg 3: 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9
Leg 4: 7
JACKPOT 2
R144
Leg 1: 1, 3, 6, 8
Leg 2: 1, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9
Leg 3: 7
Leg 4: 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9