Jack Milner
The time has come for fillies in the Western Cape to have their final fling as the 2021/22 season draws to a close.
The Grade 3 Final Fling Stakes over 1800m is one of two feature races on the card, the other being the Grade 3 Champagne Stakes over 1200m, both for fillies and mares.
The Final Fling Stakes pits one of the best three-year-olds of the winter season against her elders and she is selected to come out on top.
Young Love only ran in two of the three legs of the Winter Series for three-year-old fillies and won both of them. The daughter of Twice Over contested the Listed Sweet Chestnut Stakes over 1600m, bypassed the Stormsvlei Stakes over this course and distance before returning to win the River Jetez Stakes over 2400m from Justin Snaith-trained Maria Querol, who took out the second leg.
On official ratings the Andre Nel-trained filly has a bit to find at the weights although she is not far behind the leading contenders. She has only raced seven times and could be well better than her official ratings. In fact, like so many of Twice Over’s progeny, Young Love is likely to get better as she gets older, borne out by the fact she only started to produce her best form after five runs.
She is sitting on a hat-trick and will have Grant van Niekerk, who has ridden her to all of her victories, in the irons once again.
Pretty Betty won this race last year and received a 4.5kg penalty for that victory. She clearly battled to win again at that level of the handicap as she has not seen the winner’s enclosure since then.
Her rating has come down and in her last two races she proved to be competitive again. They might have been in Port Elizabeth but they could act as good confidence boosters.
While Rain In Newmarket, second in this race last year for Snaith, is the top-rated runner, she tends more often to be the bridesmaid rather than the bride.
She is only a two-time winner but in her 14 starts at this course, she has run in the first three in 12 of those outings and that makes her a must for Place Accumulators. Richard Fourie takes the ride.
Snaith also has Veronica Mars with Aldo Domeyer up, and she could also be a lively contender.
The outcome of the Champagne Stakes may well depend on whether the real Kitty Cat Chat shows up or not. After an outstanding start to her career where she won four of her first five races, the Australian-bred filly went off the boil and has been quite disappointing in her last two races.
She was reported to be not striding out last time when finishing eighth behind Gong Up, but if trainer Brett Crawford has sorted out the problem, she must be the one to beat.
However, the stable could come to the party with Walk Of Fame who finished fourth in the same race. She will have to be at her very best because the Dynasty filly is not well in at the weights with Major Attraction and Phil’s Dancer who both finished ahead of her last time as well.
Jack Milner’s selections
Race 1: 2 Charlie Malone, 5 Fort Apache, 4 Doubling Up, 3 Confrontational
Race 2: 2 Future Turn, 6 Royal Port Louis, 1 Canford Lights, 5 Nevada King
Race 3: 5 Lady Of Gold, 8 Teardrop, 4 Happy Chance, 6 Lucy The Pink
Race 4: 6 Street Outlaw, 2 Dave The King, 3 Iconic Destination, 4 Michael Faraday
Race 5: 7 Silent War, 2 Adios Amigos, 5 Tout A Fait, 6 Izapha
Race 6: 10 Young Love, 1 Pretty Betty, 2 Rain In Newmarket, 5 Veronica Mars
Race 7: 5 Walk Of Fame, 3 Major Attraction, 1 Kitty Cat Chat, 2 Phil's Dancer
Race 8: 3 Bullitt, 5 King Mo, 8 Tough Terrain, 6 Max The Otter
BEST BET
Race 2 No 2 Future Turn
VALUE BET
Race 7 No 5 Walk Of Fame
BEST SWINGER
Race 2 2x6
BIPOT
R108
Leg 1: 2, 5
Leg 2: 2
Leg 3: 4, 5, 8
Leg 4: 2, 6
Leg 5: 2, 5, 7
Leg 6: 1, 2, 10
PLACE ACCUMULATOR
R216
Leg 1: 2
Leg 2: 5, 8
Leg 3: 2, 6
Leg 4: 2, 5, 7
Leg 5: 1, 2, 10
Leg 6: 1, 3, 5
Leg 7: 3, 5
PICK 6
R1440
Leg 1: 4, 5, 8
Leg 2: 2, 3, 4, 6
Leg 3: 2, 5, 6, 7
Leg 4: 1, 2, 10
Leg 5: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Leg 6: 3, 5
JACKPOT 1
R240
Leg 1: 2, 3, 4, 6
Leg 2: 2, 5, 6, 7
Leg 3: 1, 2, 10
Leg 4: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
JACKPOT 2
R120
Leg 1: 2, 5, 6, 7
Leg 2: 1, 2, 10
Leg 3: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Leg 4: 3, 5