Midweek racing PlayUp selections from Sandown Hillside and Gosford from our resident form analyst. Take a look at their top five selections below.
Sandown R1 #6 Semper Fortis $3.80 at PlayUp – Happy enough to stick with this horse here, third up into his career coming off two second placing’s to date. He was very good on debut at Cranbourne, especially inside the last 100m where he savaged the line. Was then sent around a deserved $1.40 favourite at Benalla last start but refused to go past the winner on the line. Blinkers applied here, expect it to sharpen him right up and sticking to the mile will suit. Getting a good price about him again now, happy to have a bet.
Sandown R2 #4 El Patroness $2.80 at PlayUp – Thought this O’Brien filly could turn the tables on the top two here, after running third behind Barb Raider and Adele Amour on debut. She was a mile off those two in the run over 1400m, and produced the fastest last 200m split of the day when charging at the line. Up to a mile now second up with added fitness and race experience, she will be settling much closer to them in the six horse field. At the longest price out of all three runners, she looked good value.
Sandown R6 #6 Fortunate Kiss $3.90 at PlayUp – An excellent return to racing from this D Bowman filly at Warracknabeal last start, which may not sound like much but it was a visually impressive win backed up on the clock. She came from off the speed behind only a moderate tempo in front, and rounded the field with the fastest last 400m & 200m sectionals of the day to win eased up. That’s a very hard thing to do at that tight circuit, which made it even more impressive. Rates highly here second up and will appreciate the drying ground as well as the step to 1300m.
Gosford R3 #1 Mayfair Spirit $3.70 at PlayUp – Third up here and ready to win in Aus, coming off two much harder assignments than this. Was outstanding first up at Sale, sitting three wide without cover and hitting the line very hard to almost win. Struggled against an on pace bias at Kembla last start, so forgiving that run now in a much easier Gosford assignment he should be hard to beat. Has trialled since last start, and the booking of Bowman is a big positive here.
Gosford R6 #13 Yulong Turbo $10.00 at PlayUp – Willing to give this colt another chance, as i’m sure he has ability even though he failed to produce it first up in the Ming Dynasty. He was beaten over 10L after travelling way too keenly up outside the lead. His two runs last prep were very good in much harder company, including a huge win on debut in Adelaide beating a smart one Bleriot, and then was only beaten 3L in a G3 Blue Diamond Prelude behind General Beau which is top level 2yo form. Hopefully a quieter ride this time would suit, and K McEvoy sticking aboard signals he is willing to give it another chance.
