Happy Pills to succeed

The scratching of Am­sterdam from Race 6 at Turffontein tomorrow has paved the way for stable companion Happy Pills to continue his winning run.

Happy Pills, Stonehenge and Amsterdam last ran in a similar race over 1800m at the Standside course on 8 July and fought out a close finish with Happy Pills claiming a narrow 0.10-length win over Stonehenge with Am­sterdam just 0.40 lengths back in third.

Happy Pills, from the Mike and Adam Azzie stable, has just turned four and seems to be getting bet­ter with each run. He fought well to beat Stonehenge last time and there still could be quite a lot of improvement to come.

He has won three of his last four starts but this is the first time he will be tried over 2000m. Based on the way he runs that should not turn out to be much of a problem.

Champion apprentice Lyle Hewitson is in the irons and has ridden the son of Trippi three times for two wins.

Stonehenge is a front runner but is not always that reliable. If allowed to go along at his own pace he can be a tough runner to pass but if pushed sometimes goes too fast and stops. This is also his second run after a layoff so one is not sure how he will run. Julius Mariba has quite a decent record on this son of Seventh Rock, hav­ing ridden the six-year-old to three of his five wins.

Of the rest Lee’s Pick is another who could show some improve­ment and has run consistently well over this distance. He has raced three times over 2000m and finished second on all three occasions. He is 1kg under suffer­ance but carries just 52kg and will be competitive, especially with Keagan de Melo up.

Top Shot failed at Greyville last time but is better than that while Save The Rhino could win this if Ormond Ferraris has his charge close to his best. Wild Ho­rizon also has a winning chance although he would be better over further.