Worlds Your Oyster could be worth a punt at around 9-2 in the TAB Telebet Handicap at Kenilworth today.
This meeting was to have been held at Durbanville but was switched late yesterday morning. “There is a patch at the 1 500m mark that hasn’t recovered,” explained racecourse boss Dean Diedericks. “After having discussions with the jockeys we made the decision to move the meeting to Kenilworth.”
It won’t bother the Geoff Woodruff grey who is unbeaten in two starts here but it was last time’s first run out of the maidens which marked him out as one for the notebook. He led inside the final furlong to score by three-parts of a length and won rather more comfortably than that margin might suggest.
The handicappers also thought so and raised him five points but the way he won suggested that he might well have had more in hand than that. A negative is the hot field and another is that the talented Keagan de Melo has switched to the Eric Sands-trained impressive maiden winner Royal Return (6-1). But jockey-of-the-moment Craig Zackey is a definite plus.
Yorktown is the reason for Anton Marcus’s flying visit and the Brett Crawford runner was 5-2 favourite yesterday. He has come down a kilo for his last run and, while he is an obvious threat, it’s not one that bounces off the racecard. Bernie and Magic Mike have chances just as good.
Marcus’s other two rides are both for Mike Robinson and the Philippi trainer says this is the first time the former champion has ridden for him since he was third on Goodtime Gal in the Diana Stakes at Durbanville in October 2018.
“When I saw that Anton was coming and had only the one ride, I phoned him,” says Robinson. “He told me that he would ring me back when he knew that he was definitely making the trip. In fact he called me just 20 minutes later. I’ve got some nice runners today and both Sudden Star and Grey Princess have good chances.”
Sudden Star gets the vote in race one even though the form book says he has only a fifth of a length in hand over Pannington when the Brett Crawford colt did not get an entirely clear run.
Grey Princess was left on the same mark after last time’s good run over 1 500m and is 7-2 second favourite for the last. She has strong claims even though there is an extra 300m to travel but it could pay to look further down the weights.
Flatware, the 22-10 favourite, and 11-2 shot Flash Fire make particular appeal. If you ignore Sandile Mbhele’s then 1.5kg allowance (he doesn’t claim any more) there is little between them on their January 14 running. Flash Fire receives 2kg here so she gets the vote.
Lady Wylie, very disappointing on Sun Met day, can recover the losses in the Tabonline.co.za Maiden.
By Michael Clower
To take a bet go to www.tabgold.co.za or www.trackandball.co.za
