Trainer Lucky Houdalakis has some decent horses in his stable right now, and one of them is Count Invicto.
The three-year-old son of Royal Mo has won both his starts with ease and looks to be above average. However, he is going to be tested at the Vaal on Thursday when he lines up in Race 5, a MR 84 Handicap up the straight 1400m.
Count Invicto has shown lots of speed in his two wins and has kicked on well in the closing stages. On breeding he should have no trouble seeing out the distance but Jarryd Penny, who picks up the ride on this gelding for the first time, might need to ride him more conservatively this time.
But that is unlikely to be his only problem. Count Invicto is taking on a very strong field which is headed up by Tony Peter-trained Buffalo Storm Cody. This colt has raced against far stronger, and he clearly found 1100m far too short for him last time when he was run off his feet by speedy Elegant Ice. He did, nonetheless, produce the fastest final 400m.
ALSO READ: Marshall and Lerena make a formidable team
He too has yet to try this distance but based on his last run he appears to need 1400m or even further right now. Blinkers were introduced last time but they did not prove useful and have been removed for this run.
More importantly, Gavin Lerena has picked up the ride for the first time and this son of Buffalo Bill Cody looks the runner to beat.
The third runner to consider is Confederate, who is trained by Fabian Habib and has Piere Strydom in the irons. This son of Fire Away has not finished worse than second in four starts but has won only once and has been costly to follow after consecutive runners-up finishes, prompting connections to geld the highly rated three-year-old.
Confederate is open to any amount of improvement on his reappearance as a gelding and a wide No 13 draw down the straight Vaal course is also in his favour.
ALSO READ: Horses to get visiting UK jockey Oisin Murphy’s eyes smiling
Habib-trained Dylan’s Champ looks the best bet on the card and he lines up in Race 2, a Maiden plate over 1600m. This gelding has been held in high regard from his first race when starting a well-backed 5-2 on debut, but only since he was gelded has the son of Rafeef come to hand.
He finished fourth in his first start back and confirmed that improvement when only touched off over 1700m at the Vereeniging-based circuit four weeks ago. With Strydom aboard, Dylan’s Champ needn’t make much progress in his peak outing to belatedly open his account.
