Youth gainfully employed at Vaal Classic

Four of the eight races on the day are dedicated to juveniles, something we wouldn’t have seen a decade ago. The old notion was that few two-year-olds were mature enough for the rigours of racing, but thinking has been changing.

Races 1 and 2 at the Vaal are Maiden Juvenile Plates with a number of promising sorts. The third and fourth are Juvenile Plate sprints featuring some very smart operators. The fifth and sixth are for maidens of all ages but look likely to be won by progressive two-year-olds.

Filly Sheela is the big name, having won her first two races in classy fashion. She then went to Scottsville for the Alan Robertson Championship and finished third on a track that often catches out newbies.

Mike and Adam Azzie’s charge is likely to start well in the odds red for this Juvenile Plate and she should have too many guns for her five opponents.

Among the latter are Aurora Light from Paul Peter’s yard and Aunt Lizzy from Ashley Fortune’s. Both are making their second visit to the races after debut victories and it will be interesting to see if they are in the same ballpark as Sheela.

The Juvenile Plate male heat, also over 1000m, sees Dyce and Master Archie coming off their maiden wins – by 9.25 lengths and 7.50 lengths respectively. Such commanding victories would suggest they are a bit special and should fight out this one.

Interestingly, trainer Sean Tarry has kept his racy filly Miss Magician away from Sheela and has pitched her in with the boys.

Miss Magician took her maiden by 5.50 lengths and then travelled all the way to Greyville for a small Polytrack feature race, in which she was runner-up. That was no disgrace and, with a 2.5kg gender advantage over the top two here, she is likely to have a say in the finish.

Tarry has two-year-old colt Litigation up against his elders in Race 5 and he is favoured to beat them. His two runs have garnered two third places, the last over this course and distance when he showed a bit of inexperience but still finished just 0.75 lengths behind the winner. A 4kg weight pull and Lyle Hewitson aboard should see him in the winner’s box.

There’s a similar situation in Race 6, with Weiho Marwing’s juvenile filly Time Request meeting older horses. She was much improved last time, her second outing, stepping up slightly in trip and finishing in third place. Here she goes a further 200m, which should suit.

What was that saying about age and guile always beating youth and bad haircuts?

SELECTIONS

Race 1:

8 Prairie Falcon, 3 Golden Aspen, 6 Maboneng, 5 Icy Night

Race 2:

1 Admiral Dooley, 6 King Arthur, 2 Boleto, 10 Secret Link

Race 3:

1 Sheela, 3 Aurora Light, 2 Aunt Lizzy, 5 Stormy Lass

Race 4:

1 Dyce, 2 Master Archie, 4 Miss Magician, 3 Freed From Desire

Race 5:

7 Litigation, 1 Brenner Pass, 2 Enigma Code, 4 Light Warrior

Race 6:

8 Time Request, 3 Shikuru, 4 Willow Lane, 9 Tinder Dry

Race 7:

2 Back To Black, 3 Supreme Dance, 6 Waqaas, 5 Money Fighter

Race 8:

2 Flying Bull, 4 Eskimo Pie, 6 Humble Tune, 3 Castle Corner

Pick 6:

1 x 1,2,3,4 x 1,2,7 x 3,4,8 x 1,2,3,5,6,7,11 x 2,3,4,6 (R1008)

PA:

1,2,6 x 1 x 1 x 7 x 3,8 x 2 x 2,4,6 (R18)