This Saturday sees the last weekend free of Group 1 racing in Australia for the next two-and-a-half months. Instead we have five Group 2 races across Melbourne and Sydney as both carnivals kick into gear.
Winx is the headline horse in the country, which makes the Chelmsford Stakes at Randwick, over 1600m at weight-for-age, the headline race on the day.
The superstar mare is Black Caviar odds taking on a field of a couple of classy types and a few resuming stayers. She was jaw-droppingly dominant upon resumption in the Warwick Stakes first-up, and looks to have furnished into an even more complete mare for this spring.
Hartnell might have put an indifferent 12 months behind him if his second to Winx last start is any indication. He’ll never threaten her, but looks back on track. Preferment almost never runs poorly and we know that he is a genuine WFA horse.
Prized Icon will have only 50.5kgs on his back as an early season three-year-old, and with a couple of wins over the Randwick mile as a two-year-old, including one at Group 1 level, we know how tough and consistent he is. He ran well first-up behind some smart colts in his own age group, given his weighty impost of 61kgs, and shapes as an intriguing runner.
Grand Marshall and Who Shot Thebarman are hardy stayers who will get better as their races get longer, as they always do. Storm the Stars and Spiritjim were non-events in their first Australian campaigns for Chris Waller in the autumn, but may be better for having that acclimatisation.
Prized Icon might go forward with his light weight, which would be following the racing pattern he set at 1600m in the autumn, but won’t be ridden hard enough to get Winx out of her comfort zone. We can just sit back and wait for the great mare to go boom whenever Hugh Bowman feels like pushing the button.
Selections
1. Winx 2. Hartnell 3. Prized Icon 4. Preferment
The Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes is the second WFA mile race on the day, taking place at Moonee Valley, with the prize for first not just being $150,000 to the winning connections, but also a ballot-free place for that horse in the Cox Plate.
Tosen Stardom will carry the number one saddlecloth, and favouritism, in his first start for Darren Weir after forging his career Japan. He has been seen in Australia before, running respectably in the Ranvet Stakes and Queen Elizabeth back in 2015.
The Weir stable has been running hot as always, and is fresh off winning the first Group 1 win of the season last week with Black Heart Bart. They aren’t just represented by Tosen Stardom in this race, but also Mahuta, Signoff and Real Love.
Mahuta ran well for a placing in the Memsie Stakes last week, and can figure here if can endure an untroubled run from the second widest barrier. Signoff will improve off his first-up run in the Penny Edition. Real Love has raced under 2000m in her last ten starts through summer, autumn and winter, so it will be interesting to see how much freshness she has in her legs after such a campaign.
The Cleaner has won this race the last two years, but was disappointing first-up in the PB Lawrence. He’ll make the running here and try to defy them all. Miss Rose de Lago won the Lawrence Stakes, and will have to cross from the widest gate to take up an on-pace position. With the right run, she can win again.
Another six horses in this field are coming from the Lawrence.
Jacquinot Bay was superb at big odds to run second behind Miss Rose de Lago, and moves up to a distance he’s even more suited to. These sort of WFA races are okay for him, below the top level, as he is used to carrying weight.
Entirely Platinum ran third in that lead-up, but is first emergency here and may not get a run which indicates the depth of this field.
Jameka was fourth beaten just over a length, and was hitting the line like the good horse she is. She’ll be tough to beat in everything she runs in this spring. Stablemate Set Square was the less obvious eye-catcher coming from last to finish ninth, but she has a win in her somewhere along the way.
Suavito didn’t run as well as expected in the Lawrence Stakes, but hardly put in a poor one either. Whether she’s still got her absolute zest for racing remains to be seen. Awesome Rock was outclassed at that distance and has never really been a first-up horse, but he was solid and has time on his side.
Three first-up horses round out the field.
The United States is right in the market vying for favouritism, and his last two starts in the autumn saw him win the Ranvet and run second in the Queen Elizabeth. First-up over 1600m feels perfect for him, he loves the Valley, and has drawn a lovely middle barrier.
Tavago missed a run in the Memsie last week after ripping a tooth out the day before the race, but fronts up here. Excess Knowledge isn’t the classiest horse in Australia, but is an honest competitor that can produce first-up and looks over the odds from a place perspective at least.
Selections
1. The United States 2. Tosen Stardom 3. Jameka 4. Miss Rose de Lago
Around the traps
Heatherly doesn’t have too much to worry about in the 1000m WFA dash that is the McEwan Stakes at the Valley. Too much speed and too much class.
A likely bottomless track adds complexity to the Randwick meeting, particularly for the fillies in the Furious Stakes, half of which are first-up. Bacarella looks a nice each-way play at double figure odds. In the Tramway, Sadler’s Lake looks a safe play as a very good second-up horse off a super first-up run, and with solid wet form credentials.
Rose’s roughie
Oregon’s Day is a nice filly that scored a win over Highland Beat back in April the last time we saw her, and he’s been franking that form in the early season sprints for the colts and geldings. She caught the eye in a Caulfield jump out last week, and represents value at the $15 mark in the Atlantic Jewel Stakes at the Valley.
Without a Fight completed the rare Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double on Tuesday as star jockey Mark Zahra went back-to-back in the big one after…
The race that stops the nation is upon us again. Every horse in the Melbourne Cup has reasons they can win, and reasons they…
Those who want to have a really big collect on Australia’s greatest race, without risking too much, have to look at the exotic bets.
While most of the attention is on Ciaron Maher and David Eustace's Gold Trip, there's no reason why stablemate Future History cannot upstage him.
Champion jockey Damien Oliver is quietly confident his Melbourne Cup mount Alenquer will be passed fit to give him a farewell ride in the…
Melbourne Cup day is here again, and it’s never anything less than exciting. The Cup itself will of course be full of drama and…
