The Winter Stakes meeting will be held at Rosehill Gardens this Saturday. The course proper was rated a Soft 7 on Thursday and with fine weather in Sydney leading up to the weekend, Rosehill will be racing on the better side of a Soft track.
Top weight Morton’s Fork is backing up from last week’s 2nd on a Heavy 9 track and is the horse to beat in the opening event at Rosehill (Sydney Race 1, 1400m). The Godolphin colt finished 2nd in both start this preparation and stepping up to 1400m third up will suit. The drying track on Saturday will also help. Brenton Avdulla will once again be on board. .John O’Shea is going to put blinkers on the colt for the first time to help him focus and that could prove to be a winning move.
Star Shaft is the class horse in the TAB Highway Handicap and he should win accordingly (Sydney Race 3, 1200m). The Tim McIntosh-trained 4YO has been racing consistently in similar grade with 3 placings in his past 4 starts. He did well in another Highway race last start coming from a long way back to finish 3rd. The drying track will also suit Star Shaft better as he has only ever missed out a place once on dry tracks from 9 attempts. With Matthew McGillivray’s 2kg claim, Star Shaft will only be carrying 58.5kg which is rather well weighted. Drawn beautifully in barrier 5, Star Shaft will settle mid-field and get a lovely run in transit and he is the one they have to beat.
The John Sargent-trained Esteban has won his past two starts over Saturday’s trip at the beaumont track and is ready to make the switch to Saturday’s city class in the Schweppes Handicap (Sydney Race 4, 2000m). The 3YO gelding can handle any track condition and his last start victory came on a Heavy 10 track while he is just as effective in the dry. Having drawn barrier 1 in a race without much pace, I expect to see Rory Hutchings taking Esteban straight to the lead and he could be hard to catch. Esteban is primed to make it three wins on the trot.
Ninth Legion is the class horse in the Winter Stakes hence he’s been allotted the top weight (Sydney Race 6, 1400m). The Peter Robl-trained gelding is back in form winning his last two starts in Listed company. The 6YO has a terrific record over 1400m with 6 wins and further 5 placings from 16 starts over the trip. From barrier 9, Sam Clipperton will go forward and park Ninth Legion outside likely leader Oxford Poet. Even with 60g, Ninth Legion could still have too much class and be hard to catch..
By Owens Wong, Editor
