Pink and blue will do for Marcus at Scottsville

Anton Marcus won’t have to change his shirt much at Scottsville on Wednesday. He’s down to ride three horses in consecutive races for owner Suzette Viljoen and has a fighting chance of carrying her familiar pink and blue silks to victory in all of them.

It starts in Race 3, a Maiden Plate over 1750m, in which he partners Napoleon, a nicely bred three-year-old by Rafeef. Justin Snaith’s charge looks overdue a win, with his downfall so far being inexperience.

Napoleon has done OK with Marcus on board before and has a third at Scottsville on his record, so things might start falling into place – while an inside draw can only be an advantage.

Head Gardener and Clean Slate look the only serious challengers.

It’s the same jacket, but a different trainer, for Marcus in Race 4, an MR72 Handicap. Louis Goosen will be the man delivering the instructions for the ride on Cyber Time, another promising three-year-old.

Confidence in the chances of this horse rests on his obvious relish for the Scottsville track, where he cracked his maiden last time out a month ago. He was most impressive in winning by 4.40 lengths over 1600m after showing clear improvement in his previous three races and should continue the momentum over this longer trip.

Course-and-distance exponents like Billy Bazooka and Living Waters are the threats.

Marcus rounds off his exploits in pink and blue by teaming up with Snaith again in Race 7, an MR90 Handicap over 1600m. Tarantino is the runner in question, a very consistent sort who transferred from the trainer’s Cape Town base to his Summerveld satellite stable in December.

Tarantino has had three local orientation runs, at Greyville, and has finished right on the heels of the money each time. If he handles the quirks of the Scottsville course, he is primed to post a third career win.

SELECTIONS

1: Mostly first-times; watch the betting.

2: 6 Specially Selected, 11 New Orleans, 8 Ndaka, 5 King’s Spear

3: 10 Noble Storm, 9 Run Again, 11 Bay Of Dreams, 1 Brassi Lassi

4: 5 Fearless Kitty, 7 Tempelhoff, 1 Red Hot Chili Girl, 3 Victory Vision

5: 1 Napoleon, 7 Head Gardener, 5 Clean Slate, 9 Coral Copy

6: 6 Cyber Time, 8 Living Waters, 2 Billy Bazooka, 1 A Whole New World

7: 7 Tarantino, 8 Master Of Destiny, 3 Southern Cape, 9 Sir Michael

8: 3 Ethiopian Queen, 8 Sashay Away, 9 Princess Donelly, 11 Nikiya

9: 7 Passage Of Power, 5 Irontail, 12 Bernie’s Dream, 4 Beechamwood Boy

Pick 6: 1,3,5,7 x 1,5,7 x 5,8 x 3,6,7,8,9 x 3,8,9,11 x 4,5,7,12 (R1920)

PA: 9,10 x 5,7 x 1 x 5 x 3,7,8 x 3,8 x 5,7 (R48)