Pssst, hot tip! The sun’s coming out

Punters want inside info on the weather, not the horses, for a change. After two successive meetings were called off due to rain – on Sunday and Monday – South African racing addicts are suffering withdrawal symptoms from being denied their daily fix.

The good news is that all weather bulletins reckon the chances of rain in Eastern Cape on Tuesday are negligible, so the Fairview Polytrack meeting looks secure. One set of forecasters put the chance of precipitation at 14%, but most peg it at 0%. One lot say it’ll be “sunny”, others “partly sunny” and one is more specific: “Sun through high cloud.”

Gavin Smith will be pleased. The leading PE trainer has 22 horses engaged and in need of competitive galloping. Also, he’s keen to get back into the dominant form he enjoyed in the first few months of the year. The relatively quiet spell the yard has had of late would be quickly forgotten with three or four visits to the No 1 box.

Smith is well placed to kick off the meeting with a winner in Race 1 – in the shape of Pinnacle, a juvenile filly who has been narrowly pipped into second in her last two runs. Those efforts were sprints on the turf track and she now switches to the Poly, which is more likely to help than hinder a young girl.

In Race 4, Smith has another go with the hapless Joe Harman. The four-year-old stayer counts five seconds and five thirds among his 16 runs and must surely break the duck soon. JP van der Merwe hops aboard him for the first time and might be the catalyst he needs.

Jet Mirage in Race 7 and Princess Of Winter in Race 8 could round off the day nicely for the Smith team – and are potential banker bets on a card that demands going wide in places.

SELECTIONS

1: 9 Pinnacle, 4 Emily’s Spirit, 1 Bavarian Jet, 8 Literal Image

2: 5 Dawn Raider, 2 Duke Of Orange, 3 Global Mark, 4 Question The Stars

3: 2 Silver Slippers, 5 Sugar Snap, 9 Babyitscoldoutside, 8 Ladonna Mia

4: 5 Joe Harman, 4 Jack In The Box, 1 War Man, 3 Irish Sea

5: 6 Pam’s Princess, 3 What A Blizzard, 4 Paris Opera, 2 Mesmerizing Moon

6: 2 Undisclosed, 3 Life On Mars, 1 Line Of Power, 7 Gentleman

7: 1 Jet Mirage, 10 Great Guy, 5 Ticket To Ride, 6 Notrix

8: 6 Princess Of Winter, 9 Buttercup, 5 Perfect Angel, 8 Que Cosas

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

PA: 2,5 x 2,5 x 4,5 x 3,4,6 x 1,2,3 x 1,10 x 6 (R144)