This baby hopefully won’t hurt punters at Vaal

Thursday question: which artist sang What is love with the words Baby Don’t Hurt Me? Yes, tough one. Google was needed to find the answer: Haddaway.

The racehorse Baby Dont Hurt Me is in action in Thursday’s sixth race at the Vaal, and trainer Paul Peter and jockey Warren Kennedy will be hoping the filly can notch the second win of her career.

The three-year-old has only raced three times but there was a lot to like about her three-length maiden win at Turffontein in December.

A runner who could prevent a second win for the Peter inmate is Mike de Kock’s filly Verolina. She looks like one of the leading contenders and will have Craig Zackey in the saddle.

Zackey was responsible for a Pick Six upset when scoring on  25-1 chance Imperial Ruby at Turffontein on Tuesday evening.

Warship from Candice Dawson’s stable and Midnight Gem make this an interesting contest at a meeting where punters are faced with a number of competitive races.

The De Kock stable is responsible for the favourite, Sybaris, in the fourth race, with Kabelo Matsunyane booked for the ride on the Irish-bred filly. Her opening price was 3-1.

Peter’s runner Sergei is the 5-1 second favourite but he has had a number of chances and Ashley Fortune’s Dame Of Flames is preferred for swinger bets.

Though three-year-old Sound Of Hounds only narrowly won a Work Riders race in January, St John Gray’s three-year-old could have more to offer and rates an each-way chance in the final leg of the Pick Six.

Sound Of Hounds will be ridden by Marco van Rensburg and he will be expecting challenges from Moya Wa Laliga, Euro Cent and Rock The Globe.

After a mediocre debut, Pottinger, a son of Judpot, ran third on his second start and will be a warm favourite for Thursday’s opening event. This is a Work Riders event and the gelding will be partnered by Philip Mlangeni.

Tyrone Zackey does well with his small string of horses and his runner, Arlington Action, may pose the main threat to Pottinger.

• The Sporting Post reports that last year’s Triple Crown winner, Malmoos, will join Ridgemont Highlands for the next breeding season.

The move has been welcomed by Malmoos’s trainer De Kock. “This horse is the real deal. He has the looks, the pedigree and thankfully he will go to stud in SA,” De Kock said.

Malmoos was an expensive purchase, costing R4.4m at the 2019 Emperors Palace National Yearling Sale.

Ridgemont’s Craig Kieswetter said he believes Malmoos will “dovetail beautifully” with their existing band of sires, Canford Cliffs, Rafeef and Potala Palace.

Rafeef’s progeny were in demand at Sunday’s Cape Premier Yearling Sale at the De Grendel wine estate. He was third in the sire’s list with an aggregate of R3,375,000.

SELECTIONS

1st race: (10) Pottinger (1) Arlington Action (2) Just A Memory (3) Spring Will Come

2nd race: (1) Fennec Fox (11) Now Is The Time (4) Flowerbomb (2) Bardolphia

3rd race: (9) Defender Of Rights (1) Fashionigma (3) Crown Plaza (2) In The Ether

4th race: (10) Sybaris (1) Dame Of Flames (9) Wandering Star (12) Light Warrior

5th race: (1) Captain Of Grit (5) Castle Of Glass (11) Gilda Gray (12) Scottadito

6th race: (7) Baby Dont Hurt Me (10) Verolina (11) Midnight Gem (5) Warship

7th race: (6) Noble Sniper (4) Look Yourself (1) Noble Striker (7) Timbavati River

8th race: (15) Sound Of Hounds (6) Moya Wa Laliga (2) Euro Cent (1) Rock The Globe