Orville Clarke, Freelance Writer
Champagne And Gold ridden by Chris Douglas, romps the 10th race over the straight five course to give veteran trainer Frank Parham his first winner in many moons at Caymanas Park last Saturday. The 4-y-o filly won by five lengths. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
BOTH THE Pick-9 and Super-6 start anew at Caymanas Park tomorrow, the well-supported 12-race programme featuring two Super-6s.
Last Saturday, the $3 million Pick-9 was cornered by three punters, each receiving $1,070.922.
Tomorrow's Pick-9 will embrace races four-12. We look at the first of the two Super-6, from race one to six.
It gets underway with a maiden three-year-old race over the straight five course to be contested by eight starters.
The horses to note are NON-STOP, TWENTY NINE and the well-advanced newcomers MASANIELLO from the stables of Anthony 'Baba' Nunes and the Ken Mattis-trained SUMMER WIND.
PEAK OF FORM
MASANIELLO, a chestnut colt by Pangur Ban out of Charmer For A Day, has been looking up at exercise for some time and with his stables in the peak of form, is confidently expected to fight out the finish.
Preference, however, is for SUMMER WIND, a bay colt by Pat N' Jac out of McCaren who has been showing good speed at exercise. He is tipped to go all the way.
Champion trainer Wayne DaCosta should win Division II of the opening race with his highly- thought-of debutante WILD AT HEART, a bay colt by Alisios out of Wild Heart who was purchased for $1.6 million at the 2004 yearling sale.
WILD AT HEART, who is bred for speed, is coming along nicely at exercise and should pack too many guns for the experienced MY BOY who finished a close third to THE SQUEEZE over the straight on on December 31.
The third race over 1200 metres for overnight allowance horses should see DaCosta leading in the winner once again. He saddles three of the seven starters in ROYAL MALICE (Wesley Henry up), HEARTOFAMAVERICK (Dane Nelson) and NASATOL (Charles Hussey), any of which is capable of winning.
The grey NASATOL was easily the most improved horse of 2005, winning a total of seven races from 14 starts. He is coming off a recent win over the straight five course and can always be relied on to give of his best.
GO DOWN FIGHTING
NASATOL will only go down fighting, but preference is for HEARTOFAMAVRICK who won in fast time over 1300 metres (1:18.2) on December 10 when putting away EXPLOSIVE PEAK and looks tempting with only 53.0kg.
PERFECT SCORE, second FAITHFUL ROBBIE over the straight five course ON December 24, looks best of a moderate lot in the fourth-race over 1300 metres. The lightly-raced six-year-old mare should win from ALERT THE PRESS and OVERDRAFT in the 13-strong field.
CAT LEGEND, who finished a close third to NEUTRALIZER over 1400 metres recently, is preferred to JIG YOUNG and FROMRUSSIAWITHLOVE in the fifth race over the circular nine course, a distance over which she has won in the past.
Back-to-form SAID I SAID I, second to the out of class SHOWDOWN recently, gets the nod over hat-trick seeker MYBLUBELLE and MOLTEN LAVA in the sixth race over 1700 metres for $160,000 claimers.
FIRST SUPER-6
1) SUMMER WIND/MASANIELLO/TWENTY NINE
2) WILD AT HEART
3) HEARTOFAMAVERICK/ NASATOL
4) PERFECT SCORE/ALERT THE PRESS/OVER DRAFT
5) CAT LEGEND/JIG YOUNG/FROMRUSSIAWITHLOVE
6) SAID I SAID I/MYBLUBELLE/MOLTEN LAVA
