Marmara Sea will relish return to Polytrack

Jack Milner

The final leg of the Nelson Mandela Bay Racing Polytrack Challenge takes place at Fairview on Friday and no horse will be vying for the R250,000 bonus paid out to the winner of all three legs.

The first two legs, over 1200m and 1400m respectively, produced different winners but that will not affect the excitement of Leg 3 over 1600m as it looks a highly contested affair.

There is no doubt Alan Greeff-trained Marmara Sea will love the return to the Polytrack where he has put a record of nine wins and eight places from 17 runs.

On that alone the six-year-old gelding looks sure to contest the finish. Recently he has had some moderate runs on turf but the son of Soft Falling Rain is sure to put that behind him. Although he has 62kg on his back, Marmara Sea is marginally the best weighted runner and he will have the services of Richard Fourie.

Trainer Glen Kotzen is a man to follow when raiding this centre and he has a decent hand with Cat Daddy and My Bestie.

Cat Daddy has been unreliable of late but has run well at this course in previous visits.

My Bestie could be the stable choice and the Querari gelding was a heavily backed winner the last time he was seen at Fairview but that was on the turf and he has not raced on the Polytrack.

Stable companions from the Cliffie Miller yard, Greenlighttoheaven and Naval Secret, have both run decent races in the first two legs of the Challenge with Naval Secret winning the 1200m leg and Greenlighttoheaven getting touched off in both legs. There should not be too much between them once again but over this distance, preference is for Greenlighttoheaven.

Gavin Smith-trained Safari Blue must also be considered.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 2 Dream Scape, 1 Maiguru, 3 Tufaan, 8 Kind Of Blue

Race 2: 2 Graphene Aerogel, 11 Marmellata, 1 I'm In Love, 4 Colour Coded

Race 3: 6 Crafty Heart, 1 Basetsana, 7 Owlette, 3 To The Max

Race 4: 1 Ushuaia, 9 Jaspero, 6 Young Nelson, 8 Almighwaar

Race 5: 7 Iqembulabesifazane, 2 Chloris, 4 For All We Know, 10 South Wester

Race 6: 5 Can Col, 2 Bold Strike, 7 Flinders Range, 6 My Boy Reecey

Race 7: 1 Marmara Sea, 2 Cat Daddy, 7 Greenlighttoheaven, 3 My Bestie

Race 8: 5 Notorix, 6 State Of Mind, 14 Jet Captain, 2 Absolu Noir

BEST BET

Race 3 No 6 Crafty Heart

VALUE BET

Race 5 No 7 Iqembulabesifazane

BEST SWINGER

Race 2 2x11

BIPOT

R216

Leg 1: 1, 2, 3

Leg 2: 2, 11

Leg 3: 6

Leg 4: 1, 6, 9

Leg 5: 2, 4, 7, 10

Leg 6: 2, 5, 7

PLACE ACCUMULATOR

R216

Leg 1: 2

Leg 2: 6

Leg 3: 1, 9

Leg 4: 2, 4, 7

Leg 5: 2, 5, 7

Leg 6: 1, 2, 7

Leg 7: 2, 5, 6, 14

PICK 6

R1600

Leg 1: 6

Leg 2: 1, 6, 8, 9

Leg 3: 2, 4, 7, 10

Leg 4: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7

Leg 5: 1, 2, 3, 7

Leg 6: 2, 5, 6, 7, 14

JACKPOT 1

R320

Leg 1: 1, 6, 8, 9

Leg 2: 2, 4, 7, 10

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

Leg 4: 1, 2, 3, 7

JACKPOT 2

R400

Leg 1: 2, 4, 7, 10

Leg 2: 2, 4, 5, 6, 7

Leg 3: 1, 2, 3, 7

Leg 4: 2, 5, 6, 7, 14