Raiders set to strike

Two Grade 3 races are the highlight of the evening with Race 4 being The Byerley Turk (Grade 3) over 1400m on the turf and Ernie is the pick.

This three-year-old gelding was unable to overcome a wide draw in his latest, the CTS Million Dollar in January, and will have to contend with a wide draw again tonight. But his previous form and an earlier win over Illuminator highlighted how decent Ernie is.

The Mike Bass yard is in good form and Grant van Niekerk is his regular pilot.

The main dangers are likely to be Baritone from the Justin Snaith yard and Victorious Jay from the Vaughan Marshall stable.

Baritone was a heavily backed winner of his latest start after finishing only 2.20 lengths behind Noah From Goa in his penultimate race.

Clearly Baritone has more wins in him but is also badly drawn.

Victorious Jay is better drawn than Ernie and Baritone and is likely to start favourite as he was ahead of Ernie when they last met and Baritone when they had previously met.

Bela-Bela won her first two starts nicely only to disappoint third time out but one cannot ignore her decent last run when third behind J&B Met winner Smart Call at Kenilworth in January.

If fit from her break she will be hard to beat in Race 5, The Umzimkhulu Stakes (Grade 3).

Probably the best bet on the card and a banker for the exotics is Nightingale in Race 3, a FM 76 Handicap over 1600m.

The Mike Bass-trained filly was a good winner of her last two starts and a hat-trick of wins is on the cards.