ANDREW HARRISON

MIKE MILLER is a bit of a Wizz getting precocious juveniles firing early and while the majority of his colleagues tend to take it a little more slowly, Miller makes hay in their absence.

He would have had a good handle on the chances of Civil Rights in the card opener at Hollywoodbets Scottsville today and it was a bloodless victory for the daughter of first season sire Rafeef. Slow out on debut, she narrowly failed behind Kom Naidoo’s filly Aisling who had previous fought out a desperate finish with another Miller yard inmate, Sheldon.

Those that followed the form were rewarded as Civil Rights came home unchallenged.

Blinkers do not always have the desired effect of getting a horse to concentrate on the job at hand but the late declaration of blinkers on Café Pacifica by Garth Puller did produce the expected improvement as she got home late under Tristan Godden.

Godden lives in the shadow of more high-profile riders but given the chance he is as good as any around.

The early pace was hectic which allowed Godden to settle in just off the leaders on the outside of the track.

When asked for an effort, Café Pacifica fought her way into a closing gap and went on nicely to out-point the speedy Trumpet Volentary who made her effort up the inside.

It’s almost uncanny how often the start of the Pick 6 heralds an upset result and the culprit yesterday was Princess Anastasia (14-1) who gave Godden his second winner but paid R28 on the tote.

Bred in the purple, the daughter of Silvano also surprised her rider and Dennis Drier’s assistant Stuart Ferrie who were of the opinion that she would be green and may have needed another outing to bring her on. In the end it was a promising win over a distance that in the long run may prove a tad on the sharp side but as Ferrie alluded to, if you have the pedigree you already have half a chance.

Donovan Dillon is one of the toughest riders to pass in a tight finish but he met his match in Raymond Danielson after the two fought out a ferocious finish in the fourth with both riders giving it their all. Dillon, on the favourite Hugs Accepted moved up to challenge long-time leader Big Sky Country 300m out and looked to go past. Big Sky Country shifted in under pressure appearing to hamper Hugs Accepted.

If it had stayed that way Dillon may have had grounds for a successful objection but shortly after the initial bump, Hugs Accepted shifted out onto Big Sky Country who stayed on to win by the shortest of short heads. In the end it was six of one and half-a-dozen of the other and the result stood.

Dillon was more successful in the seventh where he threaded Shane Humby’s charge Socrates through a closing gap to get up close home and hold a late-charging Sniper Shot.