Champion three-year-old filly Silver Mountain is hot favourite to win South Africa’s first $1-million race at Kenilworth Racecourse in Cape Town tomorrow.
The race is the Cape Thoroughbred Sales (CTS) Million Dollar for three-year-olds and only eligible graduates of two yearling sales conducted by CTS in Cape Town in 2014 could be entered for the 1400m race.
Predictably a maximum field of 16 runners is set to run and there’s a mega payday in store for the winner. The first prize is $500,000, which is R8.32 million at the ruling exchange rate and more than double the gross stake of any other race in the country.
The connections of the runner-up will bank $200,000 (R3.3 million) with payouts of $150,000, $100,000 and $40,000 for third, fourth and fifth.
Silver Mountain is currently at even-money with corporate bookmaker Betting World, while Exit Here has been backed down to 6-1 joint second favourite with Seventh Plain.
Silver Mountain is weighted to win convincingly on her best form, but an inside draw will not necessarily be an advantage because she likes to drop off the pace early and produce her best work at the finish.
She could be funnelled backwards in the early jostling for positions and get further behind than intended.
The race will be screened live on SuperSport Select SA from 16:20 or on Tellytrack (channel 239 DStv).
* Get top jockey Piere Strydom’s views on the race in the Saturday Citizen.
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