There is a Flemington meeting on Saturday. The rail is true, the track is good and the weather is fine. Flemington is the best track in Australia, with the fairest surface and the best atmosphere. All Saturday’s races have a lot of depth and there are some interesting runners including Strawberry Boy who looked like a world beater in Sydney under the guidance of Gai Waterhouse and the ownership of John Singleton. The potential Caulfield Cup candidate has since been moved on to Peter Moody and is an even-money favourite in his first Victorian start. On looking through his form, he deserves to be a short priced favourite; he has distance form around Kelinni and Julienas and at the shorter distances he has beaten Keith’s Legacy who is one of the favourites for the big mile race at Hawkesbury.
The other nice bets on the card include…
Lidari (race 4 number 3). This tip is gathering momentum throughout the racing industry. He (as this is being typed) is $2.80, but expect him to be backed in to a very short-priced favourite. He gets 3kg off Precedence and 2.5kg off Zabeelionaire for probably being a better horse. 2000m is getting to his best distances and Flemington suits these euro imports better than any other track. He was a certainty beaten first up and will be extremely hard to beat this week and he will be even better when he gets to the 2400m.
Vittoria (race 5 number 5). This mare is in really good form and at her last start in Sydney she was not disgraced despite not handling the track and being maybe a little confused about where she was. Before that she had won three in a row and had beaten a few that are in this race including the favourite. She can get to the front and be very hard to run down and in the past she too has swooped home impressively.
Hazard (race 6 number 3). Has won four in a row and beat the boom horse Elite Elle last start. Flemington looks like it will suit this daughter of Flying Spur and five wins from eight starts indicates that she knows how to win. She is very consistent and it looks like there is only very minimal chances that she won’t be somewhere near the top at the end of the race.
By Zeb Armstrong
