The Hobartville Stakes meeting will be held at Rosehill on Saturday. The course proper was rated a Good 4 on Thursday and with fine weather in Sydney leading up to the weekend, Rosehill will be racing on a Good track on raceday.
The Lightning Stakes meeting will be held at Flemington this weekend. The course proper was rated a Good 3 on Thursday and with overcast weather in Melbourne over the next couple of days, Flemington is likely to be racing on a Good track on raceday.
The unbeaten She Will Reign is all the rage in the Silver Slipper market (Sydney Race 5, 1100m). This Manhattan Rain filly has won both her career starts by a combine aggregate of almost 13 lengths. She absolutely blitzed the field last start in the Inglis Nursery at Randwick a week before Christmas, sprinting her last 600m in 34.94 on a Heavy track. Gary Portelli has kept She Will Reign up to the mark by running her in an 800m trial 11 days ago which she duly won. From barrier 5, Ben Melham will take She Will Reign straight to the lead and she will run them ragged.
The Waller-trained Comin’ Through is 2nd up on Saturday and is primed to return to full fitness in the Hobartville Stakes (Sydney Race 6, 1400m). The 3YO did well in his first preparation with his 2 runs in Sydney, culminating to his victory over a mile in the Carbine Club Stakes during the Melbourne Cup Carnival. Comin’ Through finished 5th first up 2 weeks ago over an unsuitable distance but he was finishing off strongly and was only beaten 1.3 lengths on the line. Stepping up to 1400m will definitely suit better. Michael Walker will once again be aboard the colt and Comin’ Through will run over the top of this field.
Top weight Legless Veuve (58.5kg) is the class horse in The Vanity and she obviously is the testing material (Melbourne Race 5, 1400m). The 3YO filly did well during the Spring Carnival winning her first 2 starts including the Group 3 Tranquil Star Stakes over 1400m, before being outclassed in the Group 1 Thousand Guineas. Legless Veuve has come back well from her spell winning 1st up in the Manfred Stakes over six furlong. Stepping up to 1400m 2nd up looks perfect. And she’s rather well treated at the weight as she will only be carrying 3.5kg above the 55kg limit. Mark Zahra retains the ride and from barrier 4, Legless Veuve will settle just behind the pace and she will be hard to hold out in the last 300m.
Three year olds have not been winning the Lightning Stakes since the success of Fastnet Rock in 2005 but there is a strong 3YO contingents in this year’s Group 1 sprint (Melbourne Race 8, 1000m). Flying Artie, Star Turn & Missrock are all capable in winning the Lightning. I’ve been impressed with the Team Hawkes-trained Star Turn, a colt who can take up a position then sprint hard at the end of his races. 1st up over 1000 should suit him well. In the Coolmore Stud Stakes, Hawkes mentioned that Star Turn went too keen in the lead down the Flemington straight and was left a sitting shot, eventually being swamped by the backmarkers. This time, Dwayne Dunn will try to get the colt to relax and settle behind the pace in 3rd or 4th. Star Turn will finish the race off strongly on Saturday and he’ll be hard to hold out.
By Owens Wong, Editor
