The Australian Turf Club invites racegoers to enjoy another great weekend of racing this Saturday, 2 February at Rosehill Gardens.
Patrons on course will have the chance to enter the ‘The Star SMS to WIN’ competition where one lucky winner will walk away with a $300 gift voucher to Sydney’s premier entertainment destination, The Star.
On the track, one of the highlights of the eight-race program is the Jackie McIlrick Handicap which will see the Chris Waller-trained Said Com (Alysha Collett) return to the track for the first time since lining up in The Star Epsom Handicap in October. The four-year-old has opened as the $3.00 favorite with TAB Fixed Odds in a wide open market.
Commands gelding Soledad (Christian Reith) will also take his place in the field of nine and opens on the second line of the betting at $4.00 after his first up second in the Listed Takeover Target Stakes at Gosford on 10 January.
The final race on the card, the Spotless Sprint will see a number of black type winning horses face the starter in preparation for the Group 2 $175,000 Royal Sovereign Stakes at Rosehill Gardens on 16 February. Queensland-trained Better Than Ready (Ric McMahon) will open as the deserved $3.60 favourite after an impressive spring campaign including his win in the Listed Brian Crowley Stakes at Royal Randwick in course record time.
Better Than Ready will have strong competition from three-year-old Ichihara (Serg Lisnyy) who boasts a 50% winning strike rate, and one time Golden Slipper favourite Raceway (Tommy Berry) from the Gai Waterhouse stable who had displayed recent strong barrier trial form.
Ninth Legion (Shaun Guymer ) will be having its first start for Hawkes Racing in the Australian Turf Club Handicap. After tackling tougher races in the spring such as the Group 1 $1M De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose where he finished a close fourth, the son of Fastnet Rock looks well placed first up in the 1200m sprint.The first race gets underway at 1.05pm and gates open to the public at 11.30am. The rail will be in the True position and the track is currently sitting at a Heavy 9 rating.
Source : Australian Turf Club
