The Everest meeting will be held at Royal Randwick on Saturday. The course proper was rated a Good 4 on Thursday and with light showers in Sydney leading up to the weekend, Randwick is likely to border on Good/Soft condition on raceday.
The Caulfield Guineas meeting will be held at Caulfield this weekend. The course proper was rated a Good 3 on Thursday and with cloudy weather in Melbourne over the next couple of days, Caulfield will be racing on a Good track on raceday.
Consistent filly Aonair will have conditions to suit in the Reginald Allen Quality (Sydney Race 3, 1400m). The Fastnet Rock 3YO won well 1st up over 1400m. Then she failed to accelerate last start after coming back in distance, eventually finishing 4th, beaten 1.8 lengths on the line. Stepping up to 1400m on Saturday will suit better. She will only carry one and a half kilos over the limit at 54.5kg and has drawn nicely in barrier 5. Waller has booked English jockey Jamie Spencer for the mount. Currently at $6.00 in the fixed odds market, Aonair is a pretty good value bet.
After finishing 2nd in the Group 1 The Metropolitan, Big Duke can go one better in the St Leger Stakes at Randwick on Saturday (Sydney Race 6, 2600m). Big Duke had really come of age last preparation winning 3 consecutive Group races before finishing 3rd as favourite on a Heavy 8 track in the Sydney Cup. Big Duke has slowly stepping up in distance this campaign and he shown off his staying prowess by running a close 2nd last start in The Metropolitan. The 2600m on Saturday will suit even better. Avdulla will take Big Duke back in the field and with Chocante and Cismontane setting up the pace in front, Big Duke will have every chance to finish the race off strongly.
The inaugural running of The Everest has attracted plenty of Group 1 sprinters and it makes the job of picking the winner a difficult task (Sydney Race 8, 1200m). The former WA galloper Vega Magic has stepped up another notch after being transferred to the David Hayes stable. He won the Group 1 Goodwood Handicap before his spell and he kept his form this campaign by winning 1st up in the Regal Roller Stakes (1200m) before he took out the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) 2nd up. Vega Magic has a terrific record over 1200m having won 9 times and with a further 2 placings from 12 starts at the trip. And being a 1400m winner would have no problem coping with the tough Randwick six furlongs. The 5YO is tough and has good tactical speed, and he will go forward from barrier 10 and sit just behind the likely leaders Redzel and Houtzen and Vega Magic will be hard to catch in the run home.
By Owens Wong, Editor
