The ATC meeting this Saturday will be held at Rosehill. Fine and sunny in Sydney and the track is drying up nicely. On Thursday, Rosehill was rated a Heavy 8 and it is hopeful that we’ll be racing on a Slow surface on raceday.
Melbourne racing returns to Flemington this weekend. The track was rated a Dead 4 on Thursday. With overcast weather and some light showers, the track would remain in the Dead range on raceday.
In the opening event at Rosehill (Sydney Race 1, 1200m) , it looks a match race between the two promising colts – Bull Point and Eurozone. Both horses won on their first career start with Bull Point winning at Randwick over 1000m when he came from a fair way back and won by 2 lengths, whereas Eurozone dug deep when he won at Canterbury over 1100m. Both colts are promising type with Bull Point the slightly more impressive of the two. From a good gate (barrier 2), I anticipate that Nash Rawiller will settle Bull Point closer to the lead and be hard to run down.
In the TAB Rewards BM80 Handicap (Sydney Race 4, 2400m), top weight Secessio can turn the table on Planet Purple for his last start defeat. Secessio was beaten one length at Randwick over 2600m on a Heavy track. Back to 2400m on a dryer track suits Secessio and with the 3kg claim from John Kissick, Secessio will be carrying 58kg and that’s a 3kg turnaround on Planet Purple for a one length defeat. From barrier 6, Kissick will settle Secessio mid-field one off the fence and get a nice run in transit, and this could be the horse which provides Chris Waller the Sydney’s training record.
In the main event of the meeting, the Listed Civil Stakes (Sydney Race 5, 1350m), Chris Waller has three runners and I like Said Com the most. The 4YO is finally back to winning form for a well deserved victory last start aided by a well-timed ride by Bowman. Said Com has won and placed 5 times out of 6 starts over this distance and has never missed a place on Slow track from 5 starts. Nash Rawiller decides to get down to 55.5kg to ride Said Com and that could be another lead. From barrier 6, Nash should be able to give the horse a nice trail just behind mid-field. Currently at $4.00 fixed odds, Said Com is my tip for the Civil Stakes.
The P & F Avellino 50TH Anniversary Hcp (Syndey Race 6, 1500m) is an open race and I like the Gwenda Markwell-trained Bay Window. The gelding has a good record over 1500m at Rosehill having finished 1st or 2nd 4 times from 8 starts. He also has a terrific record on rain affected tracks. 3rd up over 1500m looks perfect for him and from barrier 7, Josh Adams will be able to settle him one off the fence outside the leaders. At $17.00 fixed odds, Bay Window represents a good each way bet.
By Owens Wong, Editor
