By Brad Gray
Race 1 – 11.30AM TAB HIGHWAY HCP (1100m)
9. Rebel’s Edge is flying but racing without luck. His get-back style always makes that a risk but the breaks will fall his way shortly. The four-year-old savaged the line at Scone first up behind talented filly Opal Ridge before hitting the line just as hard in Highway company after being inconvenienced in the straight. Again, he didn’t get the clearest of paths at Muswellbrook last start. Now fourth up and only a six-day turnaround over 1400m, he sets up to go one better. 1. Zaru has obvious claims being a last-start Highway Handicap winner, and he carries just 1kg more after the claim of Dylan Gibbons and maps to get a cosy run. 2. King Of Spades pulled up lame after disappointing at the Sapphire Coast. He won’t be far away in the run and keen to see what he can do on firmer ground.
How to play it: Rebel’s Edge each way.
Best Of Bordeaux is top pick for the feature San Domenico Stakes.Credit:Getty
Race 2 – 12.10PM THE AGENCY REAL ESTATE HCP (1500m)
2. Frumos clocked the fastest last 600m split in the race last start despite never being allowed to get out of first gear. Remarkable. It was the first time that the lightly raced five-year-old mare has been beaten, but she’s well placed to atone in a race with even less depth and out to 1500m. The way she put away two subsequent winners at Rosehill prior to that was in the manner of a galloper destined to rip through the grades. 4. Hope InYour Heart comes through that same race and and also had no luck. It was only 10 months ago that 5. Roots was a luckless second to Fangirl. Nothing went right for her last preparation. She has trialled well and gets James McDonald.
How to play it: Frumos to win.
Race 3 – 12.45PM GOFFS ORBY SALE HCP (2000m)
1. Born A King was seven weeks between runs at Flemington last start but still managed to get into the finish, picking up where he left off back in mid June. That was when he slipped past his rivals up the inside to put a gap on a very similar field. Back on his home track, middle draw allowing him to park up somewhere midfield and a firming track: it’s a perfect scenario for him. The last start run of 8. First Light suggests that he is just about ready to win. He wasn’t suited dropping back to the mile third up but kept finding the line behind Casino Kid. Fourth up he tackles 2000m and maps to settle close up from the inside gate. There was little between him and stablemate 5. Il Affare last start, she too racing like she wants this trip now.
How to play it: Born A King to win.
Race 4 – 1.20PM MIDWAY HCP (1300m)
9. Eye See Things found the right part of the Kensington track first up this preparation at the midweeks but won in style and beat a handy field that included the runner-up Quick Tempo. She wasn’t afforded the chance to build on her first-up win second up having been shuffled back in the run and failing to get into the clear. She looked very sharp in a subsequent tickover trial, matching motors with G1-winning mare Nimalee. 2. Noble Soldier was perhaps the pick of the runs from a Midway here two weeks ago over 1400m given he didn’t find the fence like 4. Oakfield Arrow and 7. Nictock. 8. Diamond Diesel has kick-started his career again in the right way, winning two on the bounce at the provincials.
How to play it: Eye See Things each way.
Race 5 – 1.55PM SCHWEPPES HCP (1400m)
Can we overlook the fact that it’s been nearly 3 years since 1. Angel Of Truth has won? It was the 2019 ATC Derby. Easier said than done but the early price makes it more digestible. There’s a case to be made that his past two first-up runs have been the best of his preparation. In the autumn he resumed in the G1 Chipping Norton and was only beaten 1.3L by Verry Elleegant, finishing third. The campaign prior he clocked the fastest last 200m of the entire meeting at Caulfield when second to Sierra Sue. The seven-year-old has trialled for his return. 10. Grace And Harmony flashed home first up in a race where the leader and eventual winner walked in front. The race has already provided subsequent winners Pizarro and Niffler, and her run was superior to both of those.
How to play it: Angel Of Truth each way.
Race 6 – 2.30PM NED WHISKY HCP (1100m)
5. Fire beat himself down the straight at Flemington last start when the $2.20 favourite. He rode a good speed, kicked like the winner but got lost late. The unbeaten Chain Of Lightning nailed him in the concluding stages. That was a sprint with good depth at BM84 level. The Hawkes stable send him back up the highway to contest a BM78 with very limited winning chances. He is still far from the finished product but he is well on his way to competing in better races than this. 4. Quick Tempo bombed the start at Rosehill two weeks ago before charging into fourth on the worst part of the track. That was behind a potential group winner in Shades Of Rose. He smashed the clock late and the overall time of the race stacked up. He is flying but has potentially bumped into another very smart sprinter.
How to play it: Fire to win.
Race 7 – 3.10PM DRINKWISE HCP (1500m)
14. Waterford made a huge impression at his first Australian start. That was only his second ever race start, too. Chris Waller elected to tip the import straight out after that Warwick Farm victory. The half-brother to talented stablemate Wicklow gets in with 53.5kg jumping straight into Saturday company and his two trials have been terrific, zooming home in the latest of his hitouts over 1200m. A couple of his key rivals have a fitness advantage over him but he has significantly more upside and the fact that he resumes over 1500m says that he has done plenty of work ahead of his resumption. 8. Kalino was ridden outside of the lead at Rosehill last start, against his established pattern, but it mattered little. He was simply too good for his rivals and James McDonald wasn’t prepared to leave anything to chance. Like the set up for him out to 1500m from the soft draw.
How to play it: Waterford to win.
Race 8 – 3.50PM BOWERMANS UP AND COMING STAKES (1300m)
5. Ringmaster’s run in the G1 JJAtkins gets better every time you watch it. He was posted deep throughout before fading late to be beaten less than two lengths. This is the first time in his four start career he has drawn low too. Ringmaster will still have some residual fitness from Queensland and it’s a near identical set up to Tiger Of Malay’s preparation heading into the Up And Coming last year. He won the race for the Freedman stable carrying 61kg. Haven’t dropped off 11. Conqueror after his first-up effort. Just can’t get him so short. The colt raced the four-year-olds first up over 1400m and was set a big task. 8. Kibou wasn’t quite sharp enough to get into the finish of the Rosebud two weeks ago over 1100m. Out to 1300m in a race he can potentially control is a very different set up, and a very likeable one for him.
How to play it: Ringmaster each way.
Race 9 – 4.30PM FURPHY SAN DOMENICO STAKES (1100m)
1. Best Of Bordeaux was the dominant two-year-old colt in Sydney, displaying blistering early speed. He won the Canonbury and the Silver Slipper before stretching his brilliance to 1200m in the Golden Slipper. He absorbed a stack of early pressure there yet was right in the finish, running second to Fireburn on a heavy track. If there was any doubt about whether he’d train on as a three-year-old, he answered that with a sensational trial win at Rosehill recently over 1000m. There are a number of speed horses drawn inside of Best Of Bordeaux but if James McDonald wants to find the front, he will. He’s simply too fast. 5. Nettuno faces his stiffest test to date but he was brilliant in winning his first two starts. He scrambled home at the Gold Coast the last time we saw him but wasn’t at his best there. Has trialled up well.
How to play it: Best Of Bordeaux to win.
Race 10 – 5.05PM FUJITSU GENERAL HCP (1200m)
There is a more depth to the field that 8. Shades Of Rose tackles here but she has been beating up her rivals recently. James McDonald took her straight to the front at Rosehill over the 1100m two weeks ago and she cruised home. The four-year-old is unlikely to get the same level of control this time but her ability to stride forward and then quicken should see her competing in group races before too long. The daughter of Rubick is chasing three straight wins, and her sixth victory from just eight starts. Inclined to go with a couple of outsiders to fill the minors, starting with 9. Tristate. The gamble is whether he is forward enough after 46 weeks on the sidelines but this is a four-year-old that was only beaten 2.7L by Home Affairs in a very deep Heritage. He returns a gelding.
How to play it: Shades Of Rose to win.
Supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays available at racingnsw.com.au.
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