Get ready to experience the thrill of a lifetime at Hollywoodbets Kenilworth this Saturday with an estimated R10-million TAB Pick 6 pool on the table at the World Sports Betting Cape Town Met race meeting. This is your chance to turn your horse racing knowledge into serious cash and many experts believe it’s a five-legged Pick 6 because of odds-on favourite See It Again in the headline event. With two other potential bankers in Isivunguvungu in Race 6 and Princess Calla in Race 7, horseplayers have the opportunity of covering their main Pick 6 with smaller perms and alternative bankers or Jackpots. And on a day of heart-pounding action, there is also a R1-million TAB Quartet carryover to the Met plus TAB Win, Place, Exacta, Quinella (first two any order) and Swinger bets on Races 1 to 10 will be commingled into the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s huge pools. This is the day to take a bet and get in the game!
For TAB online customers the great news is that the prize money for Saturday’s Daily Champion Punter competition on the Met meeting has been upped to R30,000. Opt into the competition on the website, bet at least R100 and you will be in the running for the R15,000 first prize with R10,000 for second and R5,000 for third. Tap on Competitions @ www.tab4racing.com for full details.
No matter whether you are trying to multiply winnings or recoup losses come Race 11 at Kenilworth, TAB has a grand offer for online customers. Have a Win bet and TAB will refund your full stake up to R5,000 if your horse runs second.
Make the most of a star-studded card at Meydan this Friday, when two 1800m Group 1s - the Jebel Hatta and Al Maktoum Challenge - headline a bumper nine-race programme. Doug Watson and Pat Dobbs team up with the exciting Kabirkhan in the Al Maktoum Challenge. A multiple winner in Russia and Kazakhstan, he landed a big gamble on his Meydan debut in a 2000m handicap a fortnight ago, bolting up by a comfortable four lengths. Now rated 109, the second-highest in the field, he looks a serious player again, but will need to jump on terms to avoid the kickback.
The Jebel Hatta, a key local trial for the Dubai Turf on Dubai World Cup night, sees the welcome reappearance of Saeed bin Suroor’s top-class four-year-old filly Mawj. Winner of the 1000 Guineas at Newmarket last May, she makes her first start since getting caught in the final strides by Master Of The Seas in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. One of four runners representing Godolphin, Mawj will be partnered by regular pilot Oisin Murphy and looks the one to beat.
Jockey Daniel Tudhope is tipped for a quick double on the all-weather track at Lingfield in England this Friday. He rides ante-post favourites War Bride in Race 3 and Warming in Race 4 - both are lightly raced and look ready to win on recent form. Andrew Balding’s Alvesta, a good second to boom three-year-old Kalidasa recently, should go close in Race 4 over 1900m on the all-weather at Wolverhampton on Friday evening. There is a flat meeting on Tapeta at Newcastle on Saturday followed by a meeting on the Polytrack at Kempton. There are also various jump meetings through the weekend.
Saturday’s action kicks off early with meetings at Moonee Valley in Melbourne and Randwick in Sydney followed by a 06:00 start in Singapore, where Stephen Crutchley’s Silo (three wins from seven starts) will have his last start at Kranji before being shipped to Hong Kong to continue his racing career. He’s a smart sort and goes for a hat trick in Race 10, the topliner at the meeting. After his win on 30 December, it was reported that Silo had run his last race in Singapore, but his connections then had a change of heart. Crutchley believes Saturday’s race will be perfect for Silo before he goes into quarantine and said that the distance will suit his three-year-old.
If, like most horseplayers, you’re in the camp of Michael Roberts-trained See It Again in Saturday’s R2-million Grade 1 WSB Cape Town Met, you’ll consider the likely R10-million Pick 6 MEGApool a five-legged bet. And you will make a strong case for See It Again to win with the field for second, third and fourth to secure your winning share of the expected R4-million Quartet pool.
Roberts confirmed this week that See It Again’s entire summer campaign has been pointed at the Met and that he is perfectly happy with the four-year-old. Roberts said yesterday that See It Again was “caught in the open” when slammed by Charles Dickens in the 1600m King’s Plate this month. The colt prefers to “run through the pack” from off the pace and Roberts believes there will be a decent enough pace to ensure See It Again gets the cover he needs. If you’re playing to beat the favourite, the field will be best option as every one of his rivals has a claim of sorts. But that will require bankers elsewhere if your permutation is to remain affordable.
Top sprinter Isivunguvungu, considered fully fit now, has banker appeal in Race 6. And, if at the top of her game, Princess Calla will win Race 7. But Isivunguvungu will be having his second start after a rest and meets his recent conqueror Thunderstruck at level weights. Plus Princess Calla has looked just a tiny bit below best this season, which could open the door to rising three-year-old star Red Palace, for whom there has been a lot of talk. Perhaps the right strategy is not to complicate matters - plan your permutations around your banker and load the other legs. Good luck and get your Pick 6 on before 13:40!
HOLLYWOODBETS KENILWORTH PICK 6
Race 4 @ 13:40
SUGGESTED PERMUTATION
(R460,80 for 10%)
Leg 1: 1,3,4,6,7,8,9,11,13
Leg 2: FIELD (1-16)
Leg 3: 4,6,8,9
Leg 4: 4,5
Leg 5: 7,8,10,13
Leg 6: 11
Click/tap here for Harry Ihassi Pick 6 Tips
Click/tap here for the best bets and the views of five tipsters on Satutrday's Hollywoodbets Kenilworth meeting.
Connor Beasley, who is seven winners clear of reigning champion Tadhg O’Shea on the 2023-24 Emirates Jockeys Log, travels to Jebel Ali on Saturday with a strong book of rides and teams up with his boss Ahmad bin Harmash in three of the seven races. They can strike as early as Race 2, in which Bismilah Alik gets the vote in a modest contest that won’t take much winning. They also have a decent chance in the day’s feature, the JARC Sports Day Cup handicap, with Zaman, a surprise winner at this course midway through December.
Lucky Sweynesse, the highest-rated sprinter in the world, goes for back-to-back wins in Sunday’s Group 1 Centenary Sprint Cup over 1200m at Sha Tin, the first leg of the Hong Kong Speed Series. Trainer Manfred Man’s acclaimed speedster also boasts wins in the Group 1 Chairman's Sprint (1200m) and the G1 Longines Hong Kong Sprint (1200m). With his ability to sustain excellence, he should add another big prize to his tally under regular jockey Zac Purton. He will face 12 rivals in this year’s renewal, including well-performed Wellington whose trainer Jamie Richards saddled a double on Wednesday. Richards is confident his charge can surprise if the favourite fluffs his lines. Australian jockey Hugh Bowman looks set for a good day. He could get off the mark on Telecom Dragon in Race 6 and has another realistic winning chance on Goko Win in Race 7. Douglas Whyte’s Tamra Blitz can round off Bowman’s afternoon in Race 10.
There are two Listed features on the Standside track at Turffontein on Sunday and in the first of them, the Dr Richard Maponya Handicap over 1800m, you will find Shoemaker. He is one of racing’s enigmas - he can match strides with the best on some days and be most disappointing on others. That he’s only won three races almost beggars belief, but he gets a chance to atone in Race 6.
Some of Shoemaker’s punch-drunk supporters will argue they’ve had enough, but the gelding has had valid excuses for a few of his defeats, including eight wide draws from his last 10 starts. He’s drawn wide again, but is 4kg better off with in-form Electric Gold for a two-length beating over this course and distance in December. He also has the services of Ryan Munger, who has impressed in a few rides on his working holiday back from Canada. High-class Emirate Gina comes firmly into the reckoning if one ignores her last run when she was not striding out.
Brett Crawford’s four-year-old Reny looks the right one in the Listed Spook Express Stakes over 2400m. Her best career run came over 2450m at this track when second to None Other in last year’s Grade 2 SA Oaks. On the strength of that, and two encouraging prep runs, she could defy top weight and give her rivals a hiding.
Click/tap here for the best bets and the views of five tipsters on Sunday's Turffontein meeting.