Pettigrew’s filly at attractive odds in Egoli Mile

At opening odds of 7-1, Stuart Pettigrew’s filly Quiet Rebellion can give punters a good run for their money in Saturday’s Egoli Mile at Turffontein.       

Yes, the daughter of Silvano is taking on seven male rivals, but with a low weight and favourable draw she has a shout of landing the R109,375 first prize.

This will be Quiet Rebellion’s fourth career start and — as she hadn’t raced since November — the filly probably needed the outing when third behind Juan Carlos at the city track at the beginning of February.

The big question for punters — and pundits — is what to make of the Azzie stable inmate Supreme Warrior, who finished tailed off in the Gauteng Guineas. Not surprisingly, the colt started a well-backed 9-2 chance for that race as he had posted a facile four lengths win on his second start.

So what went wrong? The stipes report states: “Supreme Warrior overraced in the early and middle stages and compounded from the 200m.” They ordered a vet check and that revealed the son of Vercingetorix was “blowing”.

Bookmakers clearly believe that was just a blip and have priced up Supreme Warrior as the 5-2 favourite. The colt is reunited with Diego De Gouveia, who rode the three-year-old to his maiden victory.

Litigation has raced seven times for two wins and three placings and should be in the mix once again. However, Sean Tarry’s horse did finish behind Stuart Pettigrew’s other runner, Whafeef, in the Secretariat Stakes.

On his next outing, Whafeef finished five lengths adrift of Supreme Warrior but will be 4.5kg better off this time. It gives Pettigrew a strong hand in the race.

Princess Kesh has raced more times than any other runner so is well exposed, yet that’s not the case with Picture Perfect, who made a pleasing debut for Weiho Marwing’s stable. On pedigree, the Trippi colt should have no trouble stepping up to 1,600m as her dam won the 2,000m Devon Air Stakes and ran second in the SA Oaks.

Interesting to note that Marwing bought Picture Perfect’s half-brother (by Twice Over) at the recent CTS sale, while Gavin Smith purchased Quiet Rebellion’s half-sister (by Canford Cliffs) for R150,000.

A win by Florentine in the fifth race would boost the prospects of Alec Laird’s runner Eagle Strike, who will be partnered for the fourth time by young Nathan Klink.

Perhaps the jockey with the best book of rides at the meeting is Keagan De Melo, who has more than 80 winners to his name this term. All of Fire Lord (third race), Invincible Warrior (fourth), Florentine (fifth), Captain Of Grit (sixth), Second Base (eighth) and Corvette Captain (ninth) have winning chances on form.

Second Base is back on the highveld after finding the company too strong in the Met. He’s in calmer waters on Saturday but faces two useful rivals in Majestic Mozart and lightly-weighted Reunion.

Whatever his fate on Litigation in the feature race, Gavin Lerena should take a power of beating in the fourth race on Tarry’s filly Caralluma. Cast your mind back to early last year when the daughter of Pomodoro ran third to War Of Athena in the Three Troikas Stakes.

SELECTIONS

1st Race: (1) Courante (9) Gilded Butterfly (2) Azucar (10) Sundrop

2nd Race: (2) Leeson (5) Jaipur Jewel (8) Gimme A Dream (6) Harold The Duke

3rd Race: (1) Fire Lord (2) Pottinger (10) Leeme Go (6) Viceroy

4th Race: (7) Caralluma (1) Captain Lannister (9) Invincible Warrior (2) Castletown

5th Race: (2) Florentine (1) McKenna Skye (3) Hotchiwitchi (6) Roha

6th Race: (9) Captain Of Grit (5) Trump My Queen (3) Dawn Of A New Era (6) Bey Suyay

7th Race: (9) Quiet Rebellion (8) Picture Perfect (2) Supreme Warrior (3) Litigation

8th Race: (1) Majestic Mozart (2) Second Base (9) Reunion (3) Zilzaal

9th Race: (4) Excellarator (2) Zanetto (1) Corvette Captain (12) Java House

10th Race: (2) Future Princess (1) General Hancock (7) Lulu’s Boy (6) Grindelwald