Greeff'S Midas touch to continue with Golden Palm

The final filly in Alan Greeff’s brilliant trio of last season’s two-year-olds will make her seasonal comeback at Fairview on Friday.

Greeff blew all challengers away with the three – Anotherdanceforme, Direct Hit and Golden Palm – and with the first two having already stood out on their return as three-year-olds it is now the chance of Golden Palm to follow suit.

Golden Palm ended her two-year-old season with four wins from five starts, including a feature race success at Greyville on 27 July.

The Master Of My Fate filly found her still-unbeaten stable companion Anotherdanceforme 2.35 lengths too good on debut over 1000m at Fairview on 21 February, but she has improved with every run since then. Richard Fourie took over the ride for her second start, and she was a wide-margin winner over the same course and distance on 7 March.

The combination of Fourie and Greeff had not been seen on the Highveld until they arrived to make a direct hit on the SA Nursery over 1160m at Turffontein just three weeks later.

Another easy success followed that day – a well-backed winner once again.

Greeff then decided to test the filly around the turn over 1400m, and at odds of 1-5, she won by 10 lengths over Fairview on 30 May. Now that her talent has been exposed, it was just a question of which centre and what race Greeff would choose next.

He chose the Grade 1 Thekwini Stakes over 1600m at Hollywoodbets Greyville which many saw as her true test. She passed that with flying colours, beating Tina Lovelace by 2.80 lengths.

On Friday she lines up in Race 5 on the turf track and only four runners will try to lower her colours in the Listed Racehorse Owners Association Stakes over 1600m.

Three of those are her stable companions. While Augusta Rosso and King Prawn are still improving and show ability but they have nowhere near the form of Golden Palm.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 3 Up Up And Away, 1 Ripsnorter, 6 Five Star Magic, 11 Money Galore, Golden Alexia

Race 2: 4 Magnus The Good, 5 Missouri Flame, 3 Pibe De Oro, 7 Cliffie Clavin

Race 3: 2 Hoerikwaggo, 5 Blue Palace, 1 Kamakazi, 10 Chroniclesofnania

Race 4: 5 Silvery Surfer, 2 Royal Kingdom, 4 Pedro, 1 Pyromaniac

Race 5: 2 Home Reef, 4 First Wish, 1 George Handel, 3 Flight Display

Race 6: 1 Golden Palm, 2 King Prawn, 4 All Systems Go, 6 Augusta Rosso

Race 7: 7 Virgin River, 3 Riverstone, 8 Buffalo Bill, 10 Big Boy Bruce

Race 8: 2 Make Believe, 6 Queen Of Jazz, 12 Beneath The Moon, 5 Happy Wives

BEST BET

Race 6: 1 Golden Palm

VALUE BET

Race 4: 5 Silvery Surfer

BEST SWINGER

Race 2 4x5

BIPOT                          

R96

Leg 1: 1, 3, 6

Leg 2: 4, 5

Leg 3: 2, 5

Leg 4: 2, 5

Leg 5: 1, 2, 3, 4

Leg 6: 1

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R216

Leg 1: 4, 5

Leg 2: 2, 5

Leg 3: 2, 5

Leg 4: 1, 2, 4

Leg 5: 1

Leg 6: 3, 7, 8

Leg 7: 2, 6, 12

PICK 6

R1500

Leg 1: 1, 2, 5

Leg 2: 1, 2, 4, 5

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

Leg 4: 1

Leg 5: 3, 7, 8, 9, 10

Leg 6: 1, 2, 5, 6, 12

JACKPOT 1

R100

Leg 1: 1, 2, 4, 5

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

Leg 3: 1

Leg 4: 3, 7, 8, 9, 10

JACKPOT 2

R125

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

Leg 2: 1

Leg 3: 3, 7, 8, 9, 10

Leg 4: 1, 2, 5, 6, 12