Avatar photo

By Nicci Garner

Writer/journalist


Punters hold back because of uncertainty about going

WAITING: Bets on the postponed Gold Cup race meeting dwindle as punters await clarity on the likelihood of going


Weather reports yesterday were forecasting sun in Durban today and tomorrow, but with a good chance of showers on Thursday night and on Friday, and a smaller possibility on Saturday.

The eLAN Property Group Gold Cup race meeting, the final big fixture on this season’s calendar, had to be postponed for a week from last Saturday due to torrential downpours last week. And the outlook is worrying.

So it comes as no surprise that Betting World’s assistant national trading manager Gary Cowan said yesterday it has been fairly quiet on the betting front for the meeting at Greyville in Durban.

“Punters are waiting to see what the going will be like,” he said. “In a long race like the Gold Cup, the going will play a big part. Although the sun shone on Sunday and is shining today, the betting will start in earnest later in the week.”

That said, Cowan continued, the market has not dried up completely and several Gold Cup runners have attracted interest:

  • Favourite Wild One is attracting steady money
  • Solid Speed is the horse who has had the most support and has come in a point due to a few plunges
  • Coltrane has had his supporters and is now 16-1 from 20s
  • Long-shot money has come for Balance Sheet, Gold Onyx and Storm Warning (“maybe an omen?” he quipped)

Gold Cup horses who have won in the wet are: Hot Ticket, Disco Al, Wild One, Kingston Mines, Storm Warning, Wild Ash, J’s Outsider and Kolkata.

Gold Cup Day not only features the country’s biggest race for stayers but three other Grade 1 races in the Champions Cup, the Premiers Champion Stakes and the Thekwini Stakes, as well as three minor features.

Betting World has priced up on the rest of the meeting and Cowan said there has been early interest in three-year-olds Afrikaburn and Deputy Jud in the Champions Cup. Futura is hot favourite to follow up on his win in this race last year.

Rabada, the early favourite, has attracted most money in the Premiers Champion Stakes for two-year-olds, but there has also been support for Mogok Master, Rikitikitana and Malak El Moolook.

Lauderdale might have drifted a couple of points, but Betting World has laid a few bets on Duncan Howells’ filly, while Queen Of Credit is the other runner in the Thekwini Stakes for two-year-old fillies who has attracted interest.

 

The betting for the R1.25-million eLAN Property Group Gold Cup (Grade 1) over 3200m:

3-1 Wild One
6-1 Solid Speed
7-1 Hot Ticket, Disco Al
10-1 Kingston Mines
12-1 Storm Warning
16-1 Coltrane, Savage Wind, J’s Outsider
20-1 Ash Cloud, Wild Ash
25-1 Gold Onyx, Vino Veritas, Balance Sheet
33-1 Kolkata
55-1 Gone Baby Gone

 

The betting for the R1-million Champions Cup (Grade 1) over 1800m:

11-10 Futura
3-1 Legislate
11-2 Punta Arenas
8-1 Ice Machine
12-1 Willow Magic
25-1 Halve The Deficit, Afrikaburn, Helderberg Blue
33-1 No Worries
50-1 Deputy Jud
55-1 Ashton Park, Light The Lights

 

The betting for the R600,000 Premiers Champion Stakes (Grade 1) over 1600m:

8-10 Rabada
11-2 Mogok Master
10-1 Abashiri, Prospect Strike
20-1 Cutting Edge, Jet Air
25-1 Escape Route, Nephrite, Rikitikitana, Star Chestnut
33-1 Captain’s Causeway, Malak El Moolook
40-1 Singh Is King
66-1 High Game, Mr Roy, Roman Calamity

 

The betting for the R600,000 Thekwini Stakes (Grade 1, two-year-old fillies) over 1600m:

14-10 Chestnuts N Pearls
9-2 Persian Rug
5-1 Flying Ice
10-1 Lauderdale
12 Fort Ember, Old Em
16-1 Big Sugar, La Strada, Mella Maria, Melliflora
40-1 Queen Of Credit
75-1 Silvan Jazz

 

Read more on these topics

CONCACAF Gold Cup Horse News

For more news your way

Download our app and read this and other great stories on the move. Available for Android and iOS.