Jack Milner
Picking the right race for a horse is an art in itself and trainer Lucky Houdalakis is quite astute when it comes to doing that.
He appears to have struck gold on Tuesday when he sends out Namaqua Blossom to contest Race 6, a MR 74 Handicap for fillies and mares over 2600m.
The meeting was originally scheduled for the Vaal Classic course but it has now been moved to the Turffontein Inside track due to a downpour at the Vaal on Monday and the distnace of the race is now 2600m.
This three-year-old daughter of Flower Alley has raced just eight times for two wins and three seconds. Those runner-up spots all came in her last three races and all against some reasonable runners.
Three runs back she came up against Joe Soma-trained Bellevarde over 2000m at Turffontein. Although she was in receipt of 8.5kg Namaqua Blossom proved no match for the talented year-older daughter of Master Of My Fate.
In fairness, Namaqua Blossom did have an excuse in that she was cut into but while she might have finished closer, it was unlikely to have affected the outcome.
Houdalakis then put his charge over 2400m at Turffontein and this time she was unlucky to bump another talented and improving filly in Raratonga Rose, who beat Namaqua Blossom by a neck in what was a very slow-run race.
In addition, the runner-up did herself no favours by losing ground at the start and then hanging in up the straight. However, she did prove that run all wrong in her next start when taking on the colts in a Classified Stakes over the same course and distance as tomorrow’s race.
Unfortunately, she ended up too far back but did produce the fastest final 400m to go down 2.75 lengths to Banha Bridge. In addition, she did get the better of Raratonga Rose who finished third.
The average merit ratings of her last three races were 76, 74, and 71 while on this occasion that drops to 69.
This does look to be the perfect race for her to bring an end to that bridesmaid tag and get herself back into the winner’s enclosure.
Raymond Danielson has ridden this filly five times for both of her victories and her last two races and he is back in the irons once again.
Despite the change of track and distance, Namaqua Blossom does stand out as the best bet on the card and it could also be worth taking some Exacta’s with Dark Travel, who comes off a good win and tries 2400m for the first time.
Jack Milner’s selections
Race 1: 7 Damned If I Do, 8 Have A Party, 4, Primrose Path, 3 Silk Garden
Race 2: 2 Black Egret, 1 Fish Eagle, 4 Magic Prince, 8 Full Go
Race 3: 2 Whatyouwaitingfor, 3 There She Goes, 8 Laetitia's Angel, 4 Splendid Season
Race 4: 3 Raratonga Rose, 2 Kind Judy, 5 Quiet Rebellion, 9 Apache Fighter
Race 5: 7 Field Of Vision, 1 Red Maple, 3 Tinder Dry, 8 Stunning Kitten
Race 6: 2 Namaqua Blossom, 1 Dark Travel, 3 Go Flichity, 5 Rosy Lemon
Race 7: 9 Celestial City, 1 Climate Control, 3 Toffas, 2 Invincible Warrior
Race 8: 7 Timeforthat, 3 Black Lightning, 5 Montmerency, 2 Just Eminent
BEST BET
Race 6 No 2 Namaqua Blossom
VALUE BET
Race 5 No 7 Field Of Vision
BEST SWINGER
Race 1 1x7
BIPOT
R144
Leg 1: 1, 7
Leg 2: 1, 2
Leg 3: 2, 3, 8
Leg 4: 2, 3, 4, 5
Leg 5: 1, 3, 7, 8
Leg 6: 2
PLACE ACCUMULATOR
R126
Leg 1: 2
Leg 2: 2, 3
Leg 3: 2, 3, 5
Leg 4: 1, 3, 7
Leg 5: 2
Leg 6: 9
Leg 7: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 15
PICK 6
R1440
Leg 1: 2, 3, 8
Leg 2: 2, 3, 5
Leg 3: 1, 3, 7, 8
Leg 4: 2
Leg 5: 1, 2, 3, 9
Leg 6: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 15
JACKPOT 1
R48
Leg 1: 2, 3, 5
Leg 2: 1, 3, 7, 8
Leg 3: 2
Leg 4: 1, 2, 3, 9
JACKPOT 2
R160
Leg 1: 1, 3, 7, 8
Leg 2: 2
Leg 3: 1, 2, 3, 9
Leg 4: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 12, 14, 15