Vaal Sand Thursday - the last Hurrah

Craig Pienaar

Speed ratings for main contenders with previous Vaal Sand form.
Recent figures shown on left and best history shown in brackets –

RACE 1
83…Leigh Woods - 18/10
78…Pera Hur (80) – 33/10
69…Fidelio (76) – 4/1
58…Rock Force (66) – 40/1

RACE 2
73…Meet me at Manos – 8/10
71…Voluptious Lady – 10/1
65…Bluemoonrush – 25/1
64…She’s a Flirt (78) – 4/1
61…Candy Floss – 10/1
57…Ginger Sioux –14/1

RACE 3
123…Roman Carnival – 2/1
108…Precursor (113) – 7/1
107…Barbel Run – 6/1
104…Master’s Spirit – 3/1
103…Jade Vine (107) – 12/1
103…Salute the Sun (110) – 16/1
102…Across the Ice (114) – 16/1

RACE 4
93…Battle of Alma – 7/2
91…Kopi Luwak – 8/1
90…Chief Sioux (95) - 4/1
90…News Flash – 12/1
89…Magic – 9/2
88…Flag of France – 6/1

RACE 5
102…Coral Key – 11/2 (massive improvement on previous – suspect)
..96…Slick Deputy – 4/1
..94…Miesque’s Storm – 12/1
..88…Last Girl Standing – 7/1
..87…Super Guppy ( 100) – 14/1
..82…Ballerini (101) – 4/1

RACE 6
98…Dover Beach – 7/2
96…Escudo (104) – 8/1
95…Eastside – 22/10
90…Fashion Secret – 5/1
88…Fire Dancing – 12/1


RACE 7
100…Formal Request – 28/10
98…Kidmambo – 4/1
97…Facebook (100) – 7/2
95…Pay as you Go – 5/1
89…Double Bind (99) – 12/1
85…Calico Quiver – 7/1

RACE 8
96…Disco Boy – 9/2
92…Viking Castle – 4/1
91…Breathless – 20/1
86…Strongmind – 12/1
85…Mind Games (94) – 12/1
84…Bridegroom Bertie – 7/1

Generally today the betting appears to be an accurate reflection of the possibilities thus ‘value’ is difficult to find.

R1 – Leigh Woods certainly the one to beat and reasonably priced.

R2 – Meet you at Manos has not set the track alight so Bluemoonrush and / or Voluptious Lady in some form of place bet (swingers or quartets) is more appealing.

R3 – Should Roman Carnival repeat the August Stakes run it’s all over, if not – open.

R4 – Open event, going with Battle of Alma and Chief Sioux.

R5 – Slick Deputy to continue the improvement, Super Guppy a contender if regaining earlier ability.

R6 – Tricky, Dover Beach from Escudo and Eastside

R7 – Formal Request the best on the day and very reasonable at 28/10, Facebook the nearest contender…only these 2 in the P6.

R8 – Going with the draw here, means Strongmind, Viking Castle, De La Vere and Breathless although the latter is unlikely to make use of the good draw. Disco Boy only for back end of quartets from this draw today, if at all.

malcolm dixon wrote: Generally today the betting appears to be an accurate reflection of the possibilities thus ‘value’ is difficult to find.

R1 – Leigh Woods certainly the one to beat and reasonably priced.

R2 – Meet you at Manos has not set the track alight so Bluemoonrush and / or Voluptious Lady in some form of place bet (swingers or quartets) is more appealing.

R3 – Should Roman Carnival repeat the August Stakes run it’s all over, if not – open.

R4 – Open event, going with Battle of Alma and Chief Sioux.

R5 – Slick Deputy to continue the improvement, Super Guppy a contender if regaining earlier ability.

trainer has said roman carnival is not 100% fit and well, this has to be born in mind.
R6 – Tricky, Dover Beach from Escudo and Eastside

R7 – Formal Request the best on the day and very reasonable at 28/10, Facebook the nearest contender…only these 2 in the P6.

R8 – Going with the draw here, means Strongmind, Viking Castle, De La Vere and Breathless although the latter is unlikely to make use of the good draw. Disco Boy only for back end of quartets from this draw today, if at all.

Trainer comments roman carnival is not fit and well this must be borne in mind.

The 7/2 Roman Carnival was an incredible price imo

He probably doesnt even need to be as good as he was in the August stakes to win this and has a perfect draw,only negative is he takes a bit pushing and Fortune not the best at that


Selections
RACE 1 LEIGH WOODS
RACE 2 MEET ME AT MANOS
RACE 3 ROMAN CARNIVAL
RACE 4 MAGIC
RACE 5 LAST GIRL STANDING
RACE 6 FASHION SECRET
RACE 7 PAY AS YOU GO
RACE 8 PERFECT TRIP

Geez its been a long time.... Hope all clanner's are well

Today's Fancies

Race 1 - Think Gavin will get on the board early. All Night Flight seems like the right one in this field. The fav will chase him home.

Race 2 - Meet me at Manos - If this horse doesn't win today then i'm afraid it may struggle to win a race in the future.

Race 7 - Kidmambo - Just feel this horse may get it right today. Always late on the scene but today if held up towards the middle of the pack should get up to win. Has a good strong finish.

Welcome back July

Good to see you JM Bud, not trying to put you off as there are probably not that many races to go on but, if All Night Flight wins I think, and stand to be corrected, it will probably be the sire's first offspring that has run well on the sand, let alone won a race on the surface. As I say though, not a huge number of runs to go on.

Thanks BoB

@Engels - Hopefully today is the 1st time and the last time with the track closing down...

Nice to be back Engels....

Meet me at the Manos will be my rememberance of the Vaal sand
This course definitely ate a lot of my money n I won't miss it for sure
What will become of my four legged friends ... Flamingo Park/Durban/Fairview beckons

Also a minority reply but I'm going to miss the Vaal sand tremendously , as a player of exotics it was the scene of some of my biggest results, hoping for one last spin off today