New PA Quickmix and R2.5m Pick 6 in the weekend fare

The new daily Place Accumulator Quickmix that starts on Friday 13 November looks like a “no-brainer” in terms of likely popularity among punters.

The Place Accumulator is already a favoured betting option among players with smaller resources – not to mention many a racehorse trainer – so a quick turnaround version might catch on.

It is identical in concept to the popular Jackpot Quickmix and will comprise a mixture of South African and international races, says the TAB announcement. It adds: “As with the Jackpot Quickmix, this will enable the bet to be completed in a significantly shorter timeframe than a Place Accumulator on a single race meeting.”

The Place Accumulator Quickmix was “soft-launched” on Thursday without any pre-publicity and the trial went off “satisfactorily” – barring a hiccup with displays of tickets going forward and will pays.

“These display issues were similar to those experienced with Jackpot Quickmixes and in this instance appear to have been caused by Leg 4 being resulted before Leg 3.

“TAB apologises to customers for these display problems and will resolve them soonest,” said the tote betting company.

R2.5-million Pick 6 pool

TAB put further temptation before punters by unveiling a likely R2.5-million Pick 6 pool for Saturday’s Turffontein race meeting – kicked off with a R250,000 carryover.

The card is topped by the Grade 3 Victory Moon Stakes, named after the doughty horse that put South African trainer Mike de Kock on the world map with his exploits in Dubai.

The big race looks wide open, with a number of runners battling to secure a place in the WSB Gauteng Summer Cup in a fortnight’s time. So, when aiming at that Pick 6 bonanza we need to look elsewhere for a banker.

One candidate is in Race 8, Leg 5, in the form of Second Base, a promising three-year-old trained by Johan Janse van Vuuren. The son of Gimmethegreenlight has won two from three and looks more progressive than the opposition here. With Gavin Lerena guiding him over the Standside track mile, from a good draw, he presents a decent argument for best bet of the day.

The danger in the race is Major Return from the Mike and Adam Azzie stable, who lived up to his name when fitted with blinkers last time out – returning to earlier winning form after a string of iffy efforts.

As mentioned, the Victory Moon, over 800m, should be a gunfight of note.

Astrix, who finished the recent Charity Mile like a U Bolt, steps up in distance but should go the extra ground on pedigree. Guess what, his grandad is Victory Moon.

Classy filly Victoria Paige had a rough passage in the Charity Mile and cannot be ignored with just 51.5kg to carry from the No 3 gate.

Others to be considered are Dance Class and Orpheus – drawn at gates 1 and 2, well-weighted and looking to progress.

The former is at 18-1 in the Summer Cup ante-post market, despite being nowhere near the log of possible runners, after a flood of early money for the erstwhile six-in-a-row winner. The filly had excuses for her two recent “disappointments”.

Orpheus is erratic but has shown a good turn-of-foot on occasion and needs a win in this sort of contest if early high expectations are to be met.

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