Devonne Govender

Yesterday’s Hollywoodbets Scottsville card never looked easy with majority of the 10 race card looking very open on paper  together with huge fields making it tricky for punters to narrow it down. Playing wide was the first thought that came to mind however there were a number of fancied runners arriving together with a few outsiders in the mix. Punters would have been more than happy as a total of 4 favourites won and 9 of them finished in the frame.

The Peter Muscutt trained 2 year old Quasiforsure landed the first at odds of 16-1. Cauldron set a ridiculous pace opening up to lead by more than 10 lengths and the swoopers started to come thick and fast. Muscutt said “This was an education for him and the draw was a concern however he is a very talented horse”. Donovan Dillon was extremely pleased with his performance.

Sonjador won the opening leg of the pick six in fine style under a brilliant ride from apprentice Rachel Venniker as she continues to boot home winners. Trainer Michael Roberts South Africa’s only hall of fame jockey commended her riding skills and specifically made mention of her not using the whip which contributed to Sonjdor’s win.

Warren Kennedy aboard Secret Giver tried to steal the race at the top of the straight however Victory Twist got up to win under a driving ride from Donovan Dillon scoring him a second win on the card.

Papillion justified favouritism winning the sixth and courageously fended off the nagging Duquesne Whistle all the way to the line. Noble Nova finished third followed by Supper At Six who rounded off the quartet.

It wasn’t long before Dillon notched up another win on the 16-1 shot Paul Lafferty trained The Bayou flying up the inside running rail to claim victory in the eighth. It almost looked impossible for him to win at the 500m mark as he was second last however Dillon got the best out him timing it to perfection beating Fireonthetrack who ran second followed by Toltec (3^rd) and Straight Up who ran 4^th. The quartet returned a healthy R 8951.30.

Flying The Star rounded off the pick six for trainer Corinne Bestel with Athandiwe Mgudlwa aboard. The ninth race turned out to be eventful at the start with the late scratching of Sofia Erin when proving intractable and Lhasa Star refusing to jump. The pick six returned R14401.00. Alfonse Baby rounded off the day in the lucky last winning by an absolute whisker to deny Trattoria who ran a close up second.