Five heats of the Maitland Gold Cup were conducted last night, and it was the litter brothers, More Source and Casual Glance, who stole the limelight being the only two heat winners to break the 25 second barrier. Other heat winners were Zulu Warlord, Aston Zodiac and Finefeuiaki but the eye catching run of the night was put up by Zipping Kyrgios in running second in the final heat. The dog was virtually knocked down on the first corner when in a forward position, but he was able to recover and storm to the line, going down by the narrowest of margins, with his overall time ensuring him a place in the final as one of the fastest second placegetters. Next weeks final does look very open and Playbook will have a full assessment of the race next Thursday.
Tonight, the focus of attention will be centred on Geelong, where five heats of the Geelong Gold Cup will be conducted on their inner track over 520 metres. Winners are never easy to find on these big nights, but we have been managing to find plenty for the punters of late, with four of our five selections saluting last night, with the very unlucky Zipping Kyrgios our only miss.
Tomorrow night at Cannington the running of the Perth Cup for sprinters, and the Galaxy for stayers, heads up racing across the nation. We feel Victorian sprinter Tiggerlong Tonk has the class to win the Cup and provide him with his first Group 1 success, whilst the local star Zack Monelli has an absolute mortgage on the Galaxy after his slashing heat win.
Geelong Race 1 No. 2 Awesome Ability $2.50 at PlayUp – A member of the strong Anthony Azzopardi kennel, being a son of his former star sprinter Raw Ability, this fellow showed nice ability in the recent Bendigo Gold Rush series. He would have benefitted enormously from that race day experience. From this draw we expect him to lead and win.
Geelong Race 3 No. 4 Keep It Black 4.40 at PlayUp – Zero luck in the run last week, finding himself at the tail of the field at the first corner. From there, he ran on fairly to qualify for this final. Despite the middle draw again tonight, we are expecting a big improvement as he is normally such a safe beginner. He will need to do everything right as Fernando Mick is perfectly drawn in Box 8. But at the odds, we do like, on an each way basis, Keep It Black.
Geelong Race 4 No. 1 Sweet As Em $3.60 at PlayUp – Loves this track, distance, and an inside draw. Despite this being a high quality field, there are a couple of runners that do like to use plenty of the track. We feel this will leave room for Sweet As Em to out rail them all and finish to well for her opposition. She is also each way value.
Geelong Race 5 No. 2 Jim Zarr Dashian $3.80 at PlayUp – This dog is armed with a massive motor but has not always been able to show it for reasons unknown to us. Raced very well at Wentworth Park during the Golden Easter Egg series and was very unlucky not to qualify for the final, being knocked down when making a forward move in the back straight in his semi-final. This is his home track, and he does perform better from an inside draw. We have him as our best of the night and the banker for your multi bets.
Wagga Race 5 No. 6 Impress Us $2.30 at PlayUp – Very fast winner in top company three starts back at Temora before having no luck at his last two starts at this track. Freshened for this, and with a vacant box on his immediate inside, we expect him to find the lead early and prove to strong.
