The Scone Inglis Guineas meeting will be held at Rosehill Gardens this Saturday. The course proper was rated a Good 4 on Thursday and with light showers in Sydney leading up to the weekend, Rosehill will border on Good/Soft condition on raceday.
Top weight Costello is the class horse in the Segenhoe Stud BM 78 Handicap (Sydney Race 2, 2400m). The David Payne-trained gelding has not missed a place in 5 starts this preparation and he won well last start over 1800m at Kensington under 61.5kg. Costello is rock hard fit and will run the mile and a half right out. Beautifully drawn in barrier 2, Nash Rawiller will box seat on the fence and put the 4YO to sleep. Costello could prove hard to run down in the straight.
A very interesting contest between Dawn Passage and Masked Crusader in the Inglis 3YO Guineas (Sydney Race 4, 1400m). Masked Crusader is the up and comer with immense potential but Dawn Passage has been there, done that. The Team Waterhouse-trained Dawn Passage had been competitive against top 3YOs like Bivouac and Yes Yes Yes last Spring. Dawn Passage came back in great order this campaign running a close 2nd to California Zimbol 1st up in the Darby Munro Stakes and last start, the colt took out the Hawkesbury Guineas by almost 3 lengths over Saturday’s track and trip. Barrier 4 would give Hyeronimus plenty of options on where to settle the colt. At set weight, Dawn Passage could well be the horse to beat.
Sweet Scandal can make it two wins on the trot by taking out the Dark Jewel Classic (Sydney Race 8, 1400m). This Sepoy mare has been rather consistent in Group races and she returned to the winner’s stall last start in the Hawkesbury Crown under the guidance of Glen Boss. Boss will once again be aboard the 5YO on Saturday. Sweet Scandal also has a pretty good record over this track and trip with a win and a 2nd from 2 attempts. Boss will settle somewhere mid-field from barrier 6 and the pretty good pace in the race would allow Sweet Scandal to run over the top of this field.
By Owens Wong, Editor
