Well-known Queensland media man Nathan Exelby is a constant at the track and has all the inside information as we head into another big weekend of racing in the Sunshine State.
GYPSY WON’T WITHER IN VINERY
GYPSY GODDESS is out to continue the impressive record of Queensland fillies in Sydney this season when she runs in the G1 Vinery Stud Stakes on Saturday.
She heads south with an unbeaten five-from-five record and is expected to measure up to the southern girls over the 2000m.
The one query would be a severely rain affected track, as she hasn’t seen anything like that to date, but on the score of ability and stamina, she looks an outstanding candidate for this race.
We have a couple of good benchmarks to compare her to in HINGED and STARTANTES.
And to the same point – on deeds done in Queensland – Gypsy Goddess trumps that pair according to the good people at Timeform Australia.
Hinged was purchased after winning five from seven as a two-year-old in Queensland for Michael Nolan.
At the time of her departure to the Chris Waller stable, Hinged had a peak Timeform rating of 100.
Startantes emerged in the spring of last year stringing a couple of wins together which were good enough for Rob Heathcote to put her on the stable to Sydney for the Golden Rose and Flight Stakes, the latter in which she placed.
Before going to the Golden Rose, Startantes’ Doomben win rated 104.
Now let’s look at Gypsy Goddess…
The David Vandyke trained filly won the G3 Grand Prix Stakes in December, where Timeform assessed her performance as a 99.
But Gary Crispe, Adam Blencowe and the team took her first up win at Eagle Farm a fortnight back a little more seriously, affording her a rating of 108.
Now she dives into the deeper end. Naturally, she has to take further improvement, as the other two did.
The now G1 winning Hinged has rated 112 at her past two runs, while Startantes went to 111 when just edged out by Hinged in the G1 Surround.
I suspect the capacity is there to do that, as there’s little doubt Gypsy Goddess is going to be better at this 2000m trip and possibly even better again at 2400m in the ATC Oaks.
Provided she handles the likely wet conditions, she’s going to measure right up here on Saturday.
WANDJII LOOKS GOOD BET TO GO ONE BETTER
PUNTERS will be hoping GO WANDJI can gain the judge’s verdict outright this Saturday at Doomben after he had to share the spoils with WINSIDE at Toowoomba three weeks ago.
Looking at the replay, it’s easy to understand why caller David Fowler labelled Go Wandji as the sole winner first up. It’s only right on the line where Winside manages to level up. Either side of it Go Wandji has a clear margin.
Either way, it was a superb fresh run, coming from well back over the 1100m.
He now goes back to the Doomben 1350m, which is the scene of his best win to date last October.
TAB has posted him at $2.50 to make it seven wins in nine outings and punters are likely to rally around him in a race where he looks to have a decent class edge on his rivals.
DOOMBEN COULD BE PUNTER’S FAVOURITE ON SATURDAY
GO Wandji is one of several short-priced commodities in early trading for the Doomben meeting.
STEADY READY (Race 1) is off a 13 length trial win at his home track of Toowoomba and has been marked at $2.40 to make a winning debut.
Joe Pride has sent LEKVARTE (Race 4) north to test her over 2000m after a tidy effort in the 1600m Kembla Grange Classic at Goulburn last time out. She looks superbly placed and TAB have wound her into $2.70.
AIDENSFIELD (Race 6) was a real eye-catcher first up for Desleigh Forster and she looks superbly placed up to 1200m from the good gate in this Class 3 Plate. With DEEP ROUGE coming out Thursday morning, the $2.80 looks appealing.
Races 7 and 9 are more open according to early markets, but there’s plenty of shorties around them for punters to get their teeth into.
I for one hope it goes according to script, as I’m on board with most of those mentioned!
KILNER SET FOR WINNING RETURN
GREAT to see leading apprentice Leah Kilner back in the saddle this weekend.
Kilner was part of that nasty fall at the Doomben trials last month where she and Maddie Wishart came to grief on the first corner.
At first she was told her injuries were only superficial and expected to gain a clearance to ride two days later.
But on further diagnosis the extent of what happened materialised to be much worse and with the initial pain killers wearing off, she found herself in considerable pain owing to rib injuries.
She has worked hard to make it back as quickly as possible and after gaining a clearance on Monday, she’s picked up four rides, including key chances EURO BELLE (Race 6) and DUSTY TYCOON (Race 7).
DOOMBEN BEST BETS
- Miss Margot May: R3 - $3.40
- Lekvarte: R4 - $2.70
- Go Wandji: R8 - $2.50