Upset by The Elmo Effect

Punters got a bit of a past­ing at Turffontein and Kenilworth on Satur­day but the good news for everybody who got involved in the Pick 6, you will get a second bite of the cherry.

At Turffontein the victories of Coral Fever in Race 6, and es­pecially The Elmo Effect in the Listed Drum Star Handicap, led to a Pick 6 carryover of R636,722 while at Kenilworth just 1% of the pool was won which resulted in a carryover of R760,805.

On his early form Coral Fever had to be a contender. He had run second to Noah From Goa and won a race after having been gelded. However, he was then in­jured and out of action for a year but Robbie Sage’s charge did have a decent comeback over 1200m when a 1.75-length fifth behind Angel’s Power.

This was a stronger field and many pundits were concerned about his second run after a long layoff. The son of Judpot was near the back of the field when they turned for home and accelerated beautifully under Gunter Wroge­mann down the inside and kept going long enough to hold off 14- 10 favourite Tilbury Fort by 0.50 lengths.

Coral Fever, who went off at 10-1, is worth following.

Gary Alexander trained Drum Star so it comes as no surprise that he generally supports the race named for one of the stable stars. He probably was not surprised they won the race but he was no doubt surprised by which of his horses won. Top Shot had a lot going for him at the weights and went off at 7-2 but it was The Elmo Effect, at 50-1 the biggest outsider in the field, who came home best under JP van der Merwe.

JP is not the most articulate of people at the best of times but even he looked totally surprised, pleasantly though, with the out­come.

One person who was not sur­prised was Dean Alexander. “I wasn’t going to run him,” said Garry. “I have to thank my brother Dean. He said they were going to go at a fast pace and it would suit The Elmo Effect.”

Arctica held a good lead com­ing into the final 300m but had no answer to the finishing burst of The Elmo Effect, going down 0.80 lengths. Arctica, with S’manga Khumalo up, did duck out sharply and that may well have cost him the race.

Third place went to Master Switch (7-2) who grabbed third place from Romany Prince.