Rather take a Safe Passage

Jack Milner

There is a carryover of R1 million boosting Saturday’s Pick 6 pool at Hollywoodbets Greyville and it is likely to reach R5 million.

With that in mind punters will be looking for a banker on the card to enable them to load other legs and Pomp And Power will be at the top of the pile for many people.

Justin Snaith’s charge heads up the betting at 17-20 to win the R1-million Daily News 2000 and there is no doubt he deserves to be at the top of the bookmakers’ boards.

Not only did he win the Grade 1 Cape Derby over 2000m, the same distance as the Grade 1 Daily News, but he had an excellent warm-up when finishing a 0.80-length third behind Zapatillas in the Grade 2 WSB Guineas over 1600m at this course on 7 May.

He has landed No 1 draw and will be ridden by Richard Fourie.

But what makes both the Daily News 2000 and Woolavington 2000 unique from a number of the other Classic races, is that it is often the first time the best three-year-olds from all around the country come together, and this year’s race is no exception.

Pomp And Power represents the best of the Western Cape while Safe Passage, Aragosta and Red Saxon lead the charge for the Highveld-based runners.

Mike de Kock trains Safe Passage and Aragosta while Joe Soma is the man taking charge of Red Saxon. These three have been swopping results as Safe Passage beat the other two in both the Grade 2 Dingaans and Grade 2 WSB Gauteng Guineas, but Red Saxon came out best in the Grade 1 WSB SA Classic.

Safe Passage was a late withdrawal from the Grade 1 WSB SA Derby, but this went the way of Aragosta with Red Saxon, who clearly failed to see out the 2450m journey, unplaced.

But while one may claim the flip-flopping form is not conducive to strong form lines, one can point to a very similar event in the Cape where Double Superlative won the Grade 1 Cape Guineas, beating Pomp And Power but the latter reversed that form convincingly in the Cape Derby.

So, in essence, we will not know how Pomp And Power will perform against the Highveld opposition until the race is run and there could be better value to go with the likes of Safe Passage, who is quoted at 33-10.

He might not be as well drawn as the “Cape Crusader” and has not raced since the SA Classic 84 days ago, but he did have a similar break between winning the Dingaans and the Guineas without any problems. In any case, De Kock is not the type of trainer who would bring an unprepared runner all the way to Durban to contest a Grade 1 race.

Muzi Yeni takes the ride for the first time.

Aragosta might find this trip a touch sharp but one cannot ignore the chances of Red Saxon, who could very well love this track.

Vaughan Marshall has a high opinion of Senso Unico and now the son of Twice Over has been gelded, we could start seeing the best of him.

With Rain In Holland a non-starter, the Woolavington 2000 has been thrown wide open and there are a host of fillies who could fight this out.

But as Rain In Holland is the standard by which other fillies are measured, it could highlight the fortunes of those who have run close-up behind her, and they are Perfect Witness, Light Of The Moon and Sprinkles.

Light Of The Moon probably gave the most cheek in the Grade 2 Wilgerbosdrift SA Oaks over 2450m and went down just 0.75 lengths, but Barend Botes’ charge may struggle with the shorter trip. However, this filly will be dangerous if allowed a soft lead.

The other top performance came from Candice Dawson-trained Perfect Witness who ran a 1.25-length second in the Grade 2 Gerald Rosenberg Stakes over 2000m at Turffontein.

Sprinkles, though, finished second in both the Grade 2 Gauteng Fillies Guineas and Grade 1 SA Fillies Classic and had Perfect Witness behind her in both races.

While the latter did reverse the form in the Gerald Rosenberg, word from the Paul Peter yard is that Sprinkles was not at her best on that occasion, but they have since been working her in blinkers and she is “working like a bomb”.

Silver Darling, Kailene and Marigold Hotel are others to consider.

Jack Milner’s selections

Race 1: 5 Ygritte, 1 Canadian Summer, 3 Get In The Q, 8 Aspoestertjie

Race 2: 1 Ensuing, 11 Royal Victory, 3 Political Party, 4 Ready Or Not

Race 3: 3 Willow Lane, 4 Trump My Queen, 8 Escape Artist, 12 Splash Of Green

Race 4: 2 Golden Pheasant, 7 Hoedspruit, 5 Willow Express, 4 Cornish Pomodoro

Race 5: 8 Shangani, 6 Flying Bull, 7 Green Haze, 1 Salvator Mundi

Race 6: 5 Sprinkles, 2 Perfect Witness, 4 Light Of The Moon, 8 Silver Darling

Race 7: 6 Safe Passage, 1 Pomp And Power, 5 Red Saxon, 3 Senso Unico

Race 8: 4 After The Rain, 7 Spydas Corner, 6 Aqua Bolt, 5 Tread Swiftly

Race 9: 10 Master Of Destiny, 8 City By The Sea, 3 Bowie, 1 Indlamu

Race 10: 7 Macara, 5 Mr Gonzales, 2 Ralph The Rascal, 4 Ideal Act

BEST BET: Race 1, No 5 Ygritte

VALUE BET: Race 10, No 7 Macara

BEST SWINGER: Race 1, 1x5

BIPOT (R324)

Leg 1: 1, 3, 11

Leg 2: 3, 4, 8

Leg 3: 2, 7

Leg 4: 6, 7, 8

Leg 5: 2, 4, 5

Leg 6: 1, 6

PLACE ACCUMULATOR (R216)

Leg 1: 3, 4

Leg 2: 2, 7

Leg 3: 6, 7, 8

Leg 4: 2, 4, 5

Leg 5: 1, 6

Leg 6: 4

Leg 7: 3, 8, 10

PICK 6 (R1800)

Leg 1: 2, 5, 7

Leg 2: 1, 2, 6, 7, 8

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

Leg 4: 1, 6

Leg 5: 4, 6, 7

Leg 6: 1, 3, 8, 10

JACKPOT 1 (R150)

Leg 1: 1, 2, 6, 7, 8

Leg 2: 2, 4, 5, 7, 8

Leg 3: 1, 6

Leg 4: 4, 6, 7

JACKPOT 2 (R192)

Leg 1: 1, 6

Leg 2: 4, 6, 7

Leg 3: 1, 3, 8, 10

Leg 4: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 13