Paul Reeves eyeing up a Durbanville double

Trainer Paul Reeves holds the key to the Pick 6 at Durbanville racecourse on Wednesday, with his game sprinter Fighter the best banker option on a very competitive programme.

Reeves currently tops the “Who’s Hot” trainers’ log for Durbanville with a first-three ratio of 53%, while his stable’s percentages for the season as a whole are more than respectable for a small, family-centred operation.

At Cape Town’s country course on Wednesday, the former jockey saddles just two horses and they both have excellent chances of winning. A neat brace would go nicely alongside one that Reeves Racing notched earlier in June.

The yard’s standout comes in the eighth and last race, an MR74 Handicap over 1000m. Fighter, a four-year-old gelding with three wins from 18 starts under the belt, is likely to start as the favourite as he is clearly fit as a fiddle with two wins and two thirds from five runs since late-January.

All those efforts were at Kenilworth, but Fighter does have a Durbanville course-and-distance victory on his earlier record. Other ticks alongside his name are for jockey Grant van Niekerk, who has won on him, and a near-perfect No 5 draw on the left-hand turn.

Drawn in pole position is the main threat, Gimme Aces from the Justin Snaith-Richard Fourie machine. This three-year-old has a 6kg weight pull, but weight isn’t always the major factor in dashes over the minimum trip. Plus, Fighter seems to be in more of a mood to belt it of late.

Reeves’s other runner is Galiek Yo Baby in Race 4, a Maiden Plate for fillies and mares over 1250m. The chestnut has been hammering on the maiden door for a while now and deserves to have it open for her.

Last time out she suffered a minor injury when placing third behind dead-heaters.

Craig Zackey has been in the Galiek Yo Baby irons three times, for a second and two thirds, so should know how she rolls. Improving juvenile Grayswood Pink is likely to be the challenger.

Zackey could have a profitable day himself – with the likes of Penny Trumpet in the second race and Bereave in the sixth – while tuning up for his Saturday date with Durban July destiny aboard lightly weighted outsider Nexus.

SELECTIONS

Race 1:

2 Coffee Break, 5 Star Master, 1 Charlie Squadron, 6 Storm Dictator

Race 2:

8 Penny Trumpet, 9 Phedra, 5 Lily Of Orange, 3 Isle Of The Winds

Race 3:

4 Buster Keaton, 2 Aroundtheworld, 8 Silent War, 1 Empire Glory

Race 4:

1 Galiek Yo Baby, 6 Grayswood Pink, 4 Chelsea River, 3 Princess Of Winter

Race 5:

1 Son Of Silk, 8 Ocean Warrior, 2 Lord Marmite, 3 World So High

Race 6:

4 Bereave, 1 Snow Report, 5 Spectra Force, 2 His Choice

Race 7:

1 Adios Amigos, 5 Bey Suyay, 2 Salvator Mundi, 6 Double Change

Race 8:

1 Fighter, 10 Gimme Aces, 2 Camps Bay, 6 Wordsworth

Pick 6:

1,2,4,8 x 1,3,4,6 x 1,2,3,8 x 1,2,4,5 x 1,2,4,5,6,9 x 1 (R1536)

PA:

8,9 x 1,2,4 x 1 x 1 x 1,4 x 1,5 x 1 (R24)

**** pic suggest: horse FIGHTER *****