Magner and Lerena set for a Classic show at the Vaal

Racehorse training isn’t an easy job. Being good at it is even less easy; being good at it with inexpensive horses and owners of relatively moderate means is way off the easy charts.

Roy Magner is one of the latter, a consummate horseman with seldom, if ever, a pricey, fancy-pants-bred nag in his yard. The ex-Zimbo’s rolling 12-month winning rate of nearly 12% and place rate of nearly 40% is more than respectable and more than enough to keep his loyal owners on board.

Magner has enjoyed much success at the Vaal Classic track in the nine months of the current season, with a win ratio of 17.7% and a first-three percentage of 50.

He saddles the banker bet at Tuesday’s Vaal Classic meeting – in the shape of filly Shikoku in Race 4. It is a Maiden Plate, but this girl has shown enough to suggest she doesn’t belong in such company – being runner up twice in her last two outings.

Gavin Lerena rode her in both those races and will have a clear strategy to get her into the No 1 box when he jumps aboard her this time. Those efforts were over 1400m and Sikoku now goes an extra 200m, which her pedigree says she’ll manage.

Magner and Lerena could easily turn a quick double by taking out the next race on the card with Rollwiththepunches, a proven three-year-old winner coming to hand following gelding in late-January.

Another Magner-Lerena wheeze might be in Race 2, with the maiden juvenile Taikonaut who seems to be maturing nicely – though a wide draw is a negative.

SELECTIONS

1: 1 Vengeance Forever, 9 Ships At Sea, 3 Gimme A Dream, 6 Big Guy

2: 10 Twin Strike, 11 Without Equal, 8 Taikonaut, 4 Lord Of Light

3: 6 Expeditioneer, 3 Grey View, 8 Time Silhouette, 1 Connection

4: 1 Shikoku, 9 Zanobian Princess, 5 Mon Tresor, 2 Pink Diamond

5: 3 Rollwiththepunches, 2 Superior Warrior, 4 Ultra Quick, 2 Constable

6: 5 Gin And Tonic, 4 Imbewu, 1 Remember When, 2 Look Yourself

7: 8 Midnight Badger, 3 No Time Is Taken, 7 Ice Eater, 5 Run April Run

8: 10 Funky Music, 4 Chyavana, 2 Motor City Hitman, 1 Let There Be Light

Pick 6: 3,6,8 x 1 x 1,2,3,4,6 x 1,4,5 x 1,3,5,6,7,8 x 1,2,4,6,9,10 (R1620)

PA: 10,11 x 6 x 1 x 2,3,4 x 4,5 x 3,7,8 x 4,10 (R96)