This Saturday’s Sydney meeting will be held at Royal Randwick. The course proper was rated a Heavy 8 on Thursday and with light showers in Sydney leading up to the weekend, Randwick will border on Soft/Heavy condition on raceday.
The Waller-trained Zougotcha could set punters on the winning course in the opening event at Randwick (Sydney Race 1, 1100m). The Zoustar filly won with a leg up in the air on debut, beating the field by a good margin on 6th April. The Soft track would not be a problem and dropping back to 1100m should be fine. James McDonald will settle somewhere mid-field and with Zougotcha’s class and good turn-of-foot, she will run over the top of this field in the run home.
Kir Royale looks a promising filly as she won two races with a further two placings from four starts in her debut campaign (Sydney Race 5, 1200m). Her two career victories were both over Saturday’s distance (1200m). By I AM Invincible out of a Street Sense mare, Kir Royale should be able to handle a Soft track. Brenton Avdulla will take advantage of barrier 1 and go straight to the front and Kir Royale could prove hard to catch.
Quintello is the best horse in the Chandon Handicap and she should win accordingly (Sydney Race 6, 1400m). The lightly raced 5YO has done all her racing in Melbourne with a good record of (3:0:3) from seven career starts. The mare annihilated the field by 4 lengths winning easily when first-up at Mornington over 1200m. Stepping up to 1400m 2nd up should suit and she has a pretty good record on Soft tracks. Drawn beautifully in gate 2, James McDonald will settle in a one off one back position and Quintello will be given every chance to win the race.
By Owens Wong, Editor
