The Lord Mayors Cup meeting will be held at Rosehill this Saturday. The course proper was rated a Good 3 on Thursday and with fine weather in Sydney leading up to the weekend, Rosehill will be racing on a Good surface on raceday.
The in-form Brenton Avdulla can kick-start the Rosehill meeting with a winner on board Legerity in the opening race (Sydney Race 1, 1100m). Team Hawkes-trained Legerity is the most experienced runner in the field with three career starts. The colt finished a good 1st up second over this trip three weeks ago. From barrier 4, Avdulla will settle Legerity just behind the leader and he’ll be the one they have to hold out at the finish.
Chris Waller has six runners in the More Than Ready Handicap and the High Chaparral gelding ‘Rodrico’ looks the best of them all (Sydney Race 4, 1900m). The 3YO has started to hit form winning his past two starts, carrying 61kg over 1800m in his latter victory. Stepping up to 1900m 5th up looks ideal. Tye Angland will once again take the rein on Saturday. From barrier 2, Angland will settle Rodrico somewhere in mid-field on the fence. With such a cushy run, Rodrico should have plenty of petrol left in the run home.
Top weight Sir Bacchus can make it two wins from as many starts this preparation in the McGrath Estate Agents Handicap (Sydney Race 5, 1200m). The 3YO gelding won well 1st up over this track & trip, finishing strongly from last to win running away. With Rory Hutchings’ 1.5kg claim, Sir Bacchus will only be carrying 59kg which would give him a winning chance. Sir Bacchus has drawn a soft barrier in 3 and that gives Hutchings plenty of options on where to settle the gelding.
Team Hawkes-trained Messene has been racing consistently this preparation until his last start failure on a Soft track in which he did not handle. On Saturday, Messene will have conditions to suit and he can get back to his best in the Lord Mayors Cup (Sydney Race 7, 2000m). Before his last start 10th, Messene did finish 2nd in two Group 3 races over this track & trip, and back to a firm track on Saturday will help him a long way. From barrier 5, Greg Ryan will take Messene straight to the front and he’ll be hard to catch. Currently, Messene is at $9.50 in the fixed odds market and he represents a great value bet.
By Owens Wong, Editor
