Gray set for Vaal Classic double

St John Gray takes four runners to the eight-race fixture on Vaal's Classic track on Tuesday and it could pay to follow the prominent owner-breeder-trainer whose green and white silks will likely be seen in the winners' enclosure on at least two occasions at the midweek Highveld meeting.

Three-year-old filly Take Your Place registered the only victory of her career with Piere Strydom in the irons and Gray's daughter of Bezrin is reunited with the veteran jockey in Race 3 over 1000m, the same distance over which she recorded that sole career success.

In three subsequent starts since exiting the maidens, Take Your Place has run well enough in defeat - off a rating slightly higher than her current mark - to suggest that a return to winning ways is just around the corner.

With Strydom back aboard for the first time since their successful 3 December association, Take Your Place is good value to double her tally and win Leg 1 of the Pick 6 over her preferred distance.

Stablemate Secret Chord, himself a Graystone Stud-bred son of Bezrin, lines up in Race 7 over 1200m with another genuine winning chance under Muzi Yeni, who has ridden Gray's four-year-old gelding to two wins, three seconds, two third-place finishes, and a fourth in 10 starts together.

Kabelo Matsunyane steered Secret Chord to victory over 1160m on Turffontein's Standside track in early December, but Yeni knows Gray's charge best and has been aboard Gray's consistent sprinter in his two subsequent outings, both over 1160m at the same level.

Secret Chord finished second under a six-point penalty in mid-January and was a close-up third late last month under 61.5kg off his career-high current mark. He concedes weight to all under 61.5kg again but a repeat of either performance should be good enough to resume winning ways.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 1 Old Fashioned, 8 Just Jazzed Up, 3 Ringho, 2 Pursuit Of Fame

Race 2: 1 Lady Of Arc, 2 Act On Snow, 10 Misty Metal, 9 Green Extreme

Race 3: 3 Take Your Place, 1 Gaelic Dancer, 7 Together Again, 8 Dancing Dora

Race 4: 7 Virgin River, 5 Kia Kaha, 1 Just The Two Of Us, 8 Phantom Express

Race 5: 3 Banff, 2 Miss Lia, 4 Royal Force, 1 Potberrie

Race 6: 9 Great Notion, 8 Accept Cookies, 6 Golden Moment, 4 Francilien

Race 7: 1 Secret Chord, 4 Kinshin Sha, 5 Big Boy Bruce, 2 Zanthar

Race 8: 5 Sail The Sky, 4 Written In Stone, 8 Oriental Bouquet, 10 Twice As Wild

BEST BET

Race 1: 1 Old Fashioned

VALUE BET

Race 6: 9 Great Notion

BEST SWINGER

Race 4 5x7

BIPOT

R180

Leg 1: 1

Leg 2: 1, 2, 10

Leg 3: 1, 3, 7

Leg 4: 5, 7

Leg 5: 2, 3

Leg 6: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R324

Leg 1: 1, 2, 10

Leg 2: 1, 3, 7

Leg 3: 7

Leg 4: 2, 3

Leg 5: 6, 8, 9

Leg 6: 1, 4

Leg 7: 4, 5, 8

PICK 6

R2000

Leg 1: 1, 3, 7, 8, 9

Leg 2: 5, 7

Leg 3: 2, 3

Leg 4: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9

Leg 5: 1, 2, 4, 5

Leg 6: 4, 5, 8, 10, 11

JACKPOT 1

R80

Leg 1: 5, 7

Leg 2: 2, 3

Leg 3: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9

Leg 4: 1, 2, 4, 5

JACKPOT 2

R200

Leg 3: 2, 3

Leg 4: 2, 4, 6, 8, 9

Leg 5: 1, 2, 4, 5

Leg 6: 4, 5, 8, 10, 11