It is another tough card to get through at Fairview this Friday, but it is probably best to side with some runners that have been impressive recently. Zinovi in Race 4 and Marchland in Race 7 fit that bill.
The Alan Greeff-trained and Richard Fourie-ridden Zinovi has won three of his last five starts and will be hard to beat over the Fairview 1600m. The Heavenly Blue gelding only finished third behind rival Lanciafiamme and was beaten 4.30 lengths over Fairview 1800m on 20 February. The five-year-old gelding was slow away that day and never really got in a serious challenge.
It was a complete turnaround from the run before that when Zinovi gave Lanciafiamme 10kgs and a 3.25-length beating over the course and distance. Both those runners are well drawn. The only other danger in this race is Guy Gibson. This five-year-old gelding is difficult to win with but is talented and also likely to contest the finish.
The feature race on this card is the East Cape Fillies Nursery (Listed) over 1200m where only eight of them have stood their ground. There are no Western Cape raiders, which is a pity. Of the eight carded, trainer Dean Smith has four runners, Alan Greeff has three and Kelly Mitchley just the one runner. It is the Mitchley runner that could be the one to beat.
The Malmoos filly was an impressive debut winner and had a couple of these rivals struggling behind her. Marchland, with jockey Muzi Yeni, was a 5.50-length winner over the course and distance of this race.
On that day Marchland did attract some betting support at 8-1, but the Greeff-trained and Richard Fourie-ridden Daffodil Delight was a 5-10 loser that could only trail in 6th home and 8.75 lengths adrift of Marchland.
Daffodil Delight had won on debut at the end of January. It may be worth noting that Fourie will now ride a newcomer in the form of Chatterbox. Alan Greeff has won this particular race many times, so if he thinks she is good enough to win a Listed race on debut then she may well be.
Of the four Smith-trained runners, Eternal Spirit (Craig Zackey) and Rungstedland (Gareth Wright) do stand out.
Both ran well on debut and could contest the finish once again.
Clive Robinson
