Money for Bingwa, but Athena remains the Summer Cup choice

There has been a significant betting plunge on Dorrie Sham-trained Bingwa to win the postponed Gauteng Summer Cup at Turffontein on Tuesday.

Race sponsors World Sports Betting were forced to slash odds from 18-1 to 8-1 in response to the flood of money for the in-form – but badly drawn – four-year-old gelding. The word is that he has been impressive in his work on the Vaal gallops.

Bingwa has won three of his last seven races and been runner-up twice, going back to March. So, there is no questioning his competitive appetite ahead of the big race, though niggling doubts remain about his capacity to stay a hard run 2000m from the No 18 starting stall.

The only other Summer Cup candidates attracting significant support following the postponement of the meeting from Saturday – due to heavy rain – have been Ashley Fortune-trained Majestic Mozart, from 30-1 to 18-1 and Paul Peter-trained Astrix, from 30-1 to 22-1.

Most other runners have eased slightly in the betting. Filly War Of Athena remains an outright favourite at 28-10, while Malmoos and Got The Greenlight are next on the bookmakers’ boards at 9-2.

A handful of horses have been withdrawn from participation at the meeting, most notably fancied Run For Isla in Race 1, and punters should check card changes before placing bets.

All TAB bets struck in advance on the Saturday fixture have been refunded and punters need to start their wagering again from scratch.

The starting times of all races on the card are slightly later than were advertised for Saturday.

SELECTIONS

1: 3 Angelsea, 6 Bellevarde, 2 Oceans Pride, 7 Elusive Rocket

2: 1 Magnum P I, 4 Secret Link, 5 Master Of Coin, 2 Wave Warrior

3: 6 Sound Of Summer, 3 Forever Mine, 7 Saragon, 8 Donald McDonald

4: 9 Sheela, 7 Big Burn, 13 Full Velocity, 10 Sound Of Warning

5: 14 Bartholdi, 4 MK’s Pride, 2 Battle Force, 5 Ultra Magnus

6: 3 Super Excited, 2 Safe Passage,5 Aragosta, 1 Pyromaniac

7: 8 Rain In Holland, 10 Clafoutis, 9 Perfect Witness, 3 Bold Fortune

8: 3 War Of Athena, 1 Got The Greenlight, 2 Malmoos, 4 Bingwa

9: 10 Barak, 9 Super Handsome, 6 Smoking Hot, 3 Marchingontogether

10: 7 Apache Gold, 2 Knightflight, 12 Maria’s World, 6 Flashy Apache

Pick 6: 7,9,10,11,13 x 2,4,5,10,13,14 x 1,2,3,5 x 8 x 1,2,3 x 3,4,5,6,9,10 (R2160)

PA: 6 x 7,9 x 4,14 x 2,3,5 x 8 x 1,3 x 9,10 (R48)