Juvenile Mister Wilson to lead the way

Jack Milner

Precocious two-year-olds are often worth putting up against their elders and this is about the time of the season trainers start pushing their juveniles.

Tony Peter will be taking his chances at the Vaal on Thursday when he sends out Mister Wilson in Race 5, a MR 72 Handicap over 1000m on the Classic track.

This Act Of War colt has only run twice, finishing a 2.35-length fourth on debut behind Read All About It, despite having his heals clipped at the start, and then, going off as the odds-on favourite, running out a comfortable 1.50-length victor over Nyaka Nyaka in his second start.

That form line has also been franked as Barend Botes’ charge came out to win his next start, beating 1-3 favourite Constellation by 0.90 lengths.

Now Mister Wilson will be facing eight older rivals and should be able to notch up his second career win. It probably was a good move to keep him up the straight at this stage so there are no concerns about whether he will handle the turn or not.

At this stage of their careers, two-year-olds get a weight-for-age allowance of 10.5kg which sees Mister Wilson coming in with just 55kg on his back, despite having a merit rating of 83. He will be putting up 0.5kg overweight but that will be offset by the advantage of having Gavin Lerena in the irons.

Lerena is riding at the top of his game right now and currently lies just two wins off current champion jockey Richard Fourie on the jockeys’ log with 174 wins.

The obvious danger looks to be Fabian Habib-trained Captain Efficient with Muzi Yeni up. The four-year-old Captain Of All gelding has been in good form and last time finished second behind Warm Winter Night over 1160m at Turffontein.

Nevertheless, Mister Wilson can only improve on his last run and on what appears to be quite a tricky card, he stands out as the best bet on the day and should be a banker in all bets.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 4 Secret Warrior, 8 Scarlett Heart, 2 Lava County, 7 Tin Pan Alley

Race 2: 4 Inspiration, 2 Captain Selvie, 5 Miss Novax, 7 Open Sesame

Race 3: 1 Santiago's Pride, 2 Heroic Act, 4 Chieftain's Shield, 3 Manz Knight

Race 4: 1 Silent War, 4 Command Pilot, 2 Zuzan, 3 Francine

Race 5: 5 Mister Wilson, 4 Captain Efficient, 3 Sakhala Is'Cathulo, 1 Antonio Gaudi

Race 6: 1 Night Vigil, 6 Virgin River, 5 Mist In Scotland, 8 The Navy Lark

Race 7: 6 Magic Tattoo, 7 One Fell Swoop, 8 Mount Pinatubo, 9 Yamadori

Race 8: 4 My One And Only, 2 Omnipotent, 1 Lady Of Memphis, 9 Heirloom

BEST BET

Race 5 No 5 Mister Wilson

VALUE BET

Race 7 No 6 Magic Tattoo

BEST SWINGER

Race 6 1x6

BIPOT

R216

Leg 1: 2, 4, 8

Leg 2: 2, 4, 5

Leg 3: 1, 2, 4

Leg 4: 1, 2, 3, 4

Leg 5: 5

Leg 6: 1, 6

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R324

Leg 1: 2, 4

Leg 2: 1, 2, 4

Leg 3: 1, 2, 4

Leg 4: 5

Leg 5: 1, 6

Leg 6: 6, 7, 8

Leg 7: 1, 2, 4

PICK 6

R2000

Leg 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10

Leg 2: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Leg 3: 5

Leg 4: 1, 6

Leg 5: 4, 6, 7, 8, 9

Leg 6: 1, 2, 4, 6, 9

JACKPOT 1

R80

Leg 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Leg 2: 5

Leg 3: 1, 6

Leg 4: 4, 6, 7, 8, 9

JACKPOT 2

R50

Leg 1: 5

Leg 2: 1, 6

Leg 3: 4, 6, 7, 8, 9

Leg 4: 1, 2, 4, 6, 9