The Apollo Stakes meeting will be held at Randwick this Saturday. The track was rated a Slow 7 on Thursday and with overcast weather in Sydney, Randwick will probably border on Slow/Dead range on raceday.
The Blue Diamond Stakes will be run at Caulfield this Saturday. The track was rated a Dead 5 on Thursday and with possible light showers forecast, Caulfield is likely to remain in the Dead range on raceday.
In the opening event at Randwick (Sydney Race 1, 1200m), former champion Sydney jockey Corey Brown will be back in Sydney riding for the day and he’ll be on the Hawkes team-trained Greco. In his first career start four weeks ago, he lead from the start but his condition gave out eventually finishing 4th, beaten only 1.1 lengths. He’ll be fitter 2nd up and from barrier 9, I believe Brown will take Greco to the front and he could prove hard to catch. Currently at $8.50 in the fixed odds market, Greco is great value.
In the Southern Cross Stakes (Sydney Race 4, 1200m), the Gerald Ryan-trained Dances On Stars has been racing consistently this preparation. His 1st up win in the Carrington Stakes was impressive and his last start 2nd in the Takeover Target Stakes was full of merit. The 4YO likes the Randwick track having won twice from 3 starts and he has never missed a place over 1200m. He’ll be on the limit at 54kg and as long as Jay Ford can get some cover during the race, Dances On Stars will finish strongly. The gelding is $11 at fixed odds and is another good value bet.
I believe the Guy Walter-trained Appearance can upset the favourite Boban in the Group 2 Apollo Stakes (Sydney Race 7, 1400m). A triple Group 1 winning mare herself, Appearance ran a slashing race 1st up in the Expressway Stakes, beating Boban in the process (Boban finished 5th). I am not sure if Boban has come up this preparation as he seemed to lack his customary acceleration in the Expressway. The same cannot be said with Appearance who came from 8th around the turn and won running away. Stepping up to 1400m 2nd up is ideal and I am sure Shinn will take the mare back in the field once again. Watch Appearance sprinting hard in the straight.
I would be confidently tipping Earthquake to win the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (Melbourne Race 7, 1200m) if she didn’t draw barrier 15. Earthquake won her only 2 starts in impressive fashion showing great acceleration in both races. However barrier 15 is very difficult for a young horse to overcome and invariably they get trapped very wide in the race. The last horse to win the Blue Diamond Stakes from barrier 15 was the mighty Redoubt’s Choice in 1999. For that reason, I decided to jump on the Rubick bandwagon. The Gerald Ryan colt is also unbeaten in his 2 starts and he ran the exact same time in the BD Prelude as Earthquake did in the fillies division. Though Rubick won the colts BD Prelude, he was seemingly struggled across the line. But having a closer look at the sectional splits of the race, I can see a different story. Rubick missed the start slightly and had to be hunted up along the fence, then he was taken on by three other horses at the front. The sectionals of the first three furlongs was a little over one second quicker than Earthquake’s race. After doing extra work and running at a fast pace at the start, no wonder Rubick was feeling the pinch at the finish, yet he still tough it out. Interestingly the other three horses who took Rubick on at the start all finished at the tail of the field. During the week, Ryan has reported that Rubick has been flying on the training track. Rubick looks the winner in this year’s Blue Diamond Stakes.
By Owens Wong, Editor
