Jack Milner
After much weather watching, Gold Circle have made the decision to move Monday’s race meeting scheduled for Hollywoodbets Scottsville to the turf track at Hollywoodbets Greyville.
Originally the meeting was due to be run yesterday but after heavy rain over Pietermaritzburg, it was moved to Monday.
But Scottsville received a further 18mm overnight rain which the already waterlogged track could not absorb and that forced the change of venue.
However, this is still subject to a suitable penetrometer reading at Greyville this morning.
There are some enforced distance changes. Races that were over 1750m will now be run over 1800m and 2600m races drop to 2400m.
The decision to move the meeting could work out well for Michael Roberts-trained Pongola who runs in Race 5, a Conditional Novice over 1800m.
Roberts is having an excellent season and he clearly has some decent horses in his yard. In the past few weeks, we have already seen three-year-olds colts See It Again and Sun Blushed confirm their high-class potential and more recently The Bund and Pongola caught the eye when winning their maidens.
Pongola won his maiden over 1400m and this son of Ideal World should even be better over this sort of distance. He won that race on the turf at Greyville so will also have no issue with the track. He has also run in yielding going with mixed results. But his improvement has come after gelding and in his first run back he went down just 0.45 lengths to Devils And Dust in soft going so the wet track should hold no fears for him.
Rachel Venniker has only ridden him once and that was in his last start, which was a winning one.
She will take 1.5kg off his back and also has the advantage of jumping from No 1 draw.
The dangers look to be fellow three-year-olds Pascali and Paris Pike as well as overdue four-year-old Botz.
Jack Milner's selections
Race 1: 2 Centrefold, 3 African Folklore, 7 Predator's Feast, 6 Givers Grace
Race 2: 3 Escapologist, 8 Mythical Tune, 7 Columbia Road
Race 3: 11 Captain Rocket, 5 Mccartney, 9 Buster Keaton, 10 Fine Admiral
Race 4: 10 Harley Street, 11 Lazy Guy, 6 Axel Collins, 2 Gold Index
Race 5: 1 Pongola, 8 Botz, 4 Pascali, 5 Paris Pike
Race 6: 4 Hey Bill, 8 Twice Golden, 5 Chelsea Flower, 1 Riccardo
Race 7: 8 Woodland Retreat, 10 Area Fifty One, 7 I Am Regal, 6 Freestate Star
Race 8: 5 Happy Wanderer, 10 Philispiel, 8 Quest For The Best, 9 Trafalgar Square
Race 9: 2 Reefway, 5 Quanabi, 7 Shell Seeker, 4 Mysterious Girl
BEST BET
Race 3 No 11 Captain Rocket
VALUE BET
Race 8 No 5 Happy Wanderer
BEST SWINGER
Race 5 1x8
BIPOT
R216
Leg 1: 3, 5, 8
Leg 2: 11
Leg 3: 6, 10, 11
Leg 4: 1, 8
Leg 5: 4, 5, 8
Leg 6: 6, 7, 8, 10
PLACE ACCUMULATOR
R216
Leg 1: 11
Leg 2: 6, 10, 11
Leg 3: 1, 8
Leg 4: 4, 8
Leg 5: 7, 8, 10
Leg 6: 5, 10
Leg 7: 2, 5, 7
PICK 6
R2304
Leg 1: 2, 6, 10, 11
Leg 2: 1, 4, 8
Leg 3: 1, 4, 5, 8
Leg 4: 6, 7, 8, 10
Leg 5: 5, 8, 9, 10
Leg 6: 2, 5, 7
JACKPOT 1
R192
Leg 1: 1, 4, 8
Leg 2: 1, 4, 5, 8
Leg 3: 6, 7, 8, 10
Leg 4: 5, 8, 9, 10
JACKPOT 2
R192
Leg 1: 1, 4, 5, 8
Leg 2: 6, 7, 8, 10
Leg 3: 5, 8, 9, 10
Leg 4: 2, 5, 7