From The Horse's Mouth - Mark Van Deventer

Kingsley Bartholomew has built up quite a following in Australia on the Wolfden site. He is a big punter and former bookmaker with a wealth of horse racing knowledge. 

Check out some of the entertaining videos he and his mates, the host, Rick and “The Fizzer” have put together covering different aspects of horseplaying. 

I’m sure you will find interesting snippets and pearls of wisdom to improve your punting endeavors.

Ahead of each weekend they do the Saturday Set, a preview of the big Graded races in Australia. For South African punters who like to follow the comprehensive Oz program, which starts early in our morning, full Fixed Odds and Tote Pool betting is offered on Interbet.

Never short on the essential gambling currency of confidence, Bartholmew puts forth three main punts for this coming Saturday and is convinced that at least two of them will win. He doesn’t restrict himself only to Graded Stakes but also makes selections in other races.

He is going for Pembrey in Randwick race 6; Linderman in the Chelmsford (Race 9) and Changing Colours in Sandown’s 10th event.

Regular guest on the show, “The Fizzer” is also an extremely astute judge, placing particular emphasis on a horse’s recent condition by assessing workouts and trials. He too uses ratings and considers the trip each horse is likely to get based on the pace set up, before landing on his fancy.

He goes with Sisu Spirit in Belmont Race 8; Ser Joh at Eagle Farm Race 8; and has two fancies at Morphetville – Grand Host (R4) and Territorian (R6).

Australian racing rarely clocks a mention in my blogs. Reason being, the time difference makes following it somewhat impractical as most of the action unfolds before breakfast. And I’m busy enough covering the national scene in S.A and Hong Kong racing, which incidentally, starts up again on Sunday.

But the high-quality turf racing in Australia is relatable to South Africans (though it is perhaps slightly more speed-orientated in Oz) and there are breeding, training and jockey links between the two countries which have built up over the years.

For example, Autumn Glow, current superstar in Oz, is out of the South African mare, Via Africa. Her owner, Andre Hauptfleish, since sadly passed, was at High School with me, and one of my first mates with a shared interest in racing. 

He would be immensely proud of her progeny’s achievements as the formidable mare, Autumn Glow continues to hoover up Grade 1 victories under the conditioning skills of Chris Waller.

For what it is worth locally, two horses that caught my eye on Greyville’s Friday night program are Zagreb (named after the capital city of Croatia) and Miss World. 

Before committing, I’ll be checking the collateral form more closely, listening to James Goodman’s Interbet podcast and monitoring odds shifts on Interbet’s Exchange.

If they both go well, and those wise/studious Ozzie informants come to light, then my Interbet account will hopefully get an early weekend boost, ahead of Sunday races in Cape Town and Sha Tin’s seasonal opener in Hong Kong.

There is also a Turffontein meeting on Saturday – so no racing fan can say they are starved of action…

Mark van Deventer