Marvel. The Dominic Zaki trained Dennis The Menace should have the last laugh at Turffontein on Tuesday evening
The party is over and the routine of the daily grind gathers momentum as most of us get into the swing of things for 2014. Punters will have to box very clever for the middle of the month Tuesday night meeting, where the eight race programme poses some tricky looking puzzles. But we may be able to rely on Dennis The Menace.
Prospects are considerably brightened by the observation that only two horses look capable of winning what should be an entertaining top-liner. Form studiers often have the bad habit of looking for ghosts where they don’t really exist. This is a classic example of a race that should be routine and straightforward.
Two Horse Race
Dennis The Menace should hold Newton Power and with all of the popular exotics well under way when the fifth race, a R115 000 Soccer 6 MR 95 Handicap is run over the 1160m, we may be able to get away with just the two combinations at a stretch. Dominic Zaki’s yard is in top form and Piere Strydom takes the reins and carries the hopes of many punters on the Bezrin gelding Dennis The Menace in a field of eight runners, recent where form is frankly more scarce than a free meal at the races.
Versatile
Dennis The Menace is a very versatile sort who has registered five of his six career wins on the turf, and inevitably puts his best foot forward. He relocated from the Deon Visser yard in KZN in mid 2012 and has added a further four wins to his tally in Gauteng. Dennis The Menace ran on well under Gavin Lerena behind Stavinsky on 28 December, but it is worth noting that his last three victories have been in the hands of the masterful Piere Strydom.
Power Play
His main opponent appears to be the highly vaunted Newton Power who enjoys an apprentice claim, but may be found lacking for toe. Johan Janse Van Rensburg’s Newton Power drops in distance after returning from a Zimbabwe raid, when running fourth behind Approval Rating at the end of November. Newton Power is a very talented but equally frustrating sort who last won when scoring at Clairwood over a mile in June. It can never be said that his trainer has not tried to
Classy
Topweight Mythical Palace is a classy seven time winner who should need the outing after his forty week break from action. Sean Tarry also sends out the bottomweight Troubled Waters who had a rather drab 2013 in respect of performance and income. His recent form is very ordinary and he is likely to be run off his feet here.
Menacing
Brett Warren’s Abbotsbury ran a smart course and distance second last time when going second in an MR 92 Handicap to Stavinsky. He beat Dennis The Menace by 2,40 lengths there, but has to deal with a negative turnaround of 2kgs in the weights. That obviously swings the pendulum in the Zaki runner’s favour.
Diane Stenger’s very quick Malhub gelding Midnight Serenade has never reached the heights envisaged when he won the Listed Storm Bird Stakes. Kum Naidoo’s multiple course and distance winning Moroccan is now an 8yo and the fact that he has not won a race in two years may indicate that he has lost his genuine enthusiasm for racing.
Improved
Brian Wiid’s King Of Kings gelding Crown Gold had excellent form until the middle of last year, but he has lost the plot since. That said his penultimate run, when a 3,25 length fifth behind the lightning fast Sharp Design, was not a half bad effort and he is one of many with place prospects.
Popular
The recent form and fitness points to Dennis The Menace. On a difficult card it may pay to save the combinations for where they are really needed. Dennis The Menace should be a popular banker bet to beat Newton Power. Go with the field behind those two, as the rest are all capable on their day.
