What you need to know ahead of today's race. Picture: iStock
As a rule, I am not keen to back a horse who always finds something to beat it but that might not be the case at Hollywoodbets Scottsville today with Teatime Tipple.
After recently taking over the KwaZulu-Natal yard of illustrious trainer Dennis Drier, Stuart Ferrie, who was his assistant for many years, sent out a steady stream of winners, but recently that flow has turned into a trickle.
Frustratingly, Ferrie has had eight close-up second place finishes in the last month, but Teatime Tipple could re-ignite his season at the Maritzburg course today. Teatime Tipple has been costly to follow, having finished runner-up in three of his last four starts, following a fair fourth on debut.
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However, he can finally get his nose down at the right time when he lines up in Race 3, a Maiden Plate over 1000m.
The difference is that he was gelded prior to his last run and showed marked improvement when going down just 0.30 lengths to Rhythm, producing the fastest final 400m.
The Var three-year-old has run well at this course and is likely to prefer racing up the straight this time rather than going around the turn as was the case at Hollywoodbets Greyville last time.
This does not look like the strongest of fields and this time he can finally get it right. Sean Veale takes the ride.
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