It is always an advantage to get off to a winning start at a racemeeting for two reasons. Firstly, it helps build up a kitty for the remainder of the day and in the second instance, it tends to give one confidence for the rest of the meeting.
That could very well be the case at the Vaal on Tuesday and trainer David Nieuwenhuizen could come to the fore in Race 2, a Maiden Juvenile Plate for fillies over 1000m.
He sends out No Filter who stands out in this line-up. The daughter of Canford Cliff has only raced three times and all of them have been getting progressively better.
There was no betting support for on debut and she went off at 33-1. The race was over 1000m on the Inside track at Turffontein which is around a tight turn and makes it tricky for inexperienced runners. She lost ground at the start and in the end did well enough to finish a 4.60-length sixth behind Heirloom.
It was a totally different story in her second run, this time over 1200m on the Vaal Classic track. Again, this was around the turn and on this occasion No Filter found a fair amount of betting support. She went off at 7-1 and was out of the stalls in a flash, setting a decent pace. However, the going was soft and she faded a little in the closing stages to finish third, 1.50 lengths behind Chilli Moon.
Her last run was also over 1200m but this time up the Vaal straight. Once again, she showed good early pace but was caught by Dolcezza who went on to win by just under two lengths.
That run was no disgrace as the winner looks to be quite decent and has surely got a lot more races to win.
The decision to drop No Filter back to 1000m this time could be a very good move. She has enough pace to keep going to the wire and there does not appear to be much in the way of opposition.
There are three unraced runners but a glance at the breeding seems to indicate they would probably be looking for a little further.
Calvin Habib is back in South Africa after a short stint in Singapore and has wasted no time getting back into the winner’s enclosure. He will be aboard No Filter.
Clive Robinson
