A Pick 6 pot of R3-million was predicted for the Championships Finale at Turffontein on Saturday, before rain got the meeting moved to Tuesday and dampened hopes of blockbuster betting pools.
Still, it remains a high-class programme with superior horses, so there’ll be plenty of wagering interest and that Pick 6 will still be a hefty one – possibly even topping R2-million with a R500,000 TAB carryover as the starting point.
The working week might mean less time for constructing Pick 6 permutations, so it’s good to have an apparently sure-fire banker to hand.
Buffalo Storm Cody is South Africa’s best racehorse and its undisputed champion sprinter. It seems right he should add another of the country’s elite speed contests – the TAB Senor Santa Sprint (Race 8 on the card) – to his winning resume.
The four-year-old, trained at Turffontein by Tony Peter, has won 10 of his 18 starts – and eight of his last 10.
Even AI would struggle to find a hole in the gelding’s record. His only defeats in recent times have come when he was chucked into unfamiliar situations: a floodlit race in Durban and a first trip to Cape Town. At home at Turffontein, he has a six from seven record and a perfect four from four over this course and distance.
Buffalo Storm Cody is allocated to carry top weight of 62 kg but, even then, he is weighted to easily beat the opposition, glorying in a merit rating of 132 (the highest in the land). From the saddle, he could hardly ask for better help than he’ll get from former champion jockey Richard Fourie.
With Grade 2 status and R500,000 on the line, there are some fast customers in the Senor Santa line-up, but it would be a major shock if any of them were to go quicker than the favourite.
The likes of William Robertson, Mount Pinatubo, Truth, The Specialist and Jerusalema Rain can be considered as packaging material for Trifectas, Quartets and the like.
Adventurous punters might feel inclined to add a second banker to their Pick 6 combos – with feisty filly Olivia’s Way looking a standout in the TAB Igugu Stakes over 2000m (Race 6).
The Roy Magner-trained four-year-old was a fabulous third to mighty See It Again in the recent Premier’s Champions Challenge at Turffontein and is among early entries for the Hollywoodbets Durban July – reflecting the esteem in which she is held by connections after her efforts in open company.
Back against her own gender in the Igugu on Tuesday, she’s likely to start as favourite and could be a banker gamble.
The trickiness of much of the rest of the card makes this an appealing call, but Olivia’s Way is not a good thing in the way Buffalo Bill Cody is.
Suggested Pick 6 perm for Tuesday:
1,3,4,8,9 x 1,2,3,4 x 1,6,7 x 1,2,3,4,5 x 1 x 1,6,8,10 (R1,200)
