Flemington review compiled by Rick Williams
Race 1. 1200M Summer Heroes Raceday 1200 SHAMEXPRESS DWAYNE DUNN 1st $4 GALVEZ LUKE NOLEN 2nd $4.40 CHASING KISSES DEAN HOLLAND 3rd $4.80 The early pace summed up this race, they walked through the first half of the race and it was very evident by the 400m that they were going to struggle to pick up the winner who looks very classy Shamexpress. He looked comfortable down his home straight and has more wins in him. The favourite was the Hayes runner Henia, he was last and on the fence and as quickly as we could see the winner being in no trouble we knew Henia was going to struggle to make enough ground. Chasing Kisses and Galvez were good but just not in the same league as the winner. Worth noting: Follow the winner. Race 2. 1600M St John Plate TOTAL ATTRACTION BEN MELHAM 1st $5 SILENT ATTITUDE JACOB RULE 2nd $18 BESANT NOEL CALLOW 3rd $11 The speed map had Kellora as the clear leader here but it was all upside down pretty quickly when she settled midfield and came with a run a faded, her performance was a little inconclusive. The winner Total Attraction was really good again. She showed that she can settle closer to the speed and finish off and whilst doing that she overcame a few difficulties in the straight. Silent Attitude was the Adelaide visitor and she really kicked well over the concluding stages but was just nailed close to the line. Worth noting: Total Attraction was really good, follow her. Forgive Kellora nothing went right for her. Race 3. 1400M Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria GOLDEN PENNY STEVEN ARNOLD 1st $5.50 LADY ROCK JAKE NOONAN 2nd $11 LEGION’S BELLE JACOB RULE 3rd $15 Legions Belle jumped well here and was able to stack them up throughout in a race that had very little speed. What that did was enable Golden Penny to run out a strong 1400m under the in form Arnold. She was tucked away throughout and was just a little too good for them with the run she had. Plenty made runs at the top of the straight but it was just too hard for them to make up any ground from back and wide. Worth noting: Analyse your sectionals here to see what happened over the concluding stages. The margins won’t tell you the true outcome. Race 4. 2000M Life Saving Victoria Race to the Rescue ROYAL MAIL JAKE NOONAN 1st $3.60F VIKING HERO DAMIEN OLIVER 2nd $4.40 PERSIAN STAR GLEN BOSS 3rd $8 The best ride won the race and that goes went to Noonan and Royal Mail. Once they settled the speed was again slow and Noonan decided to make the move around them and take up the running. Being on pace and not a hard tempo it really suited him as he is rock hard fit and he was able to keep kicking with the handy claim. Umatic made a mid race move also and he battled on pretty well but was in the right spot. Viking Hero couldn’t really get going until late and he hit the line well. Hanks loomed up and was disappointing. Worth noting: You can sack Hanks, he isn’t very serious. Race 5. 1400M Flying Doctor Plate FLYINGCONI CRAIG NEWITT 1st $3.40 VOLANDO LUKE NOLEN 2nd $9 WEALTHY LAD DWAYNE DUNN 3rd $9 Another race where the speed maps were out of the window quick smart when Cannonball settled back and Anteros and Diamonds At Dusk worked forward. Wealthy Lad landed in the right spot and had an excellent run throughout. He just found a couple of them a little too classy. Can’t knock the winner Flyingconi, he had a good run throughout and really hit the line well. He has made good improvement. Smokin Joey had a great run but yet again had no luck, he never has luck! Volando hit the line well and she is working towards a nice win. Worth noting: Smokin Joey has to be on his last legs. Volando looks the one to follow. Race 6. 1000M Kensington Stakes FIRST COMMAND STEVEN ARNOLD 1st $4.80F DECIRCLES DWAYNE DUNN 2nd $7.50 WEEKEND SPECIAL MICHAEL RODD 3rd $5 After initially being caught near the outside Arnold steered the winner First Command to the inside and the old timer really did well. He was able to sit just off of them and sprinted really well to hold off the fast finishing Weekend Special. Esprit De Bullet ran well although he didn’t place, he looks in for a good campaign. 3yo Decircles did pretty well also, he is lightly race and should continue to improve. The Soldier was taken to the outside fence in what was a bad error in judgement by the jockey. Worth noting: Hard to pick up on pacers down the straight. Race 7. 1700M SES Victorian Volunteers Handicap BOLTON NICHOLAS HALL 1st $6.50 CHASSE CHRIS SYMONS 2nd $5 SEGURO JAKE NOONAN 3rd $13 The planets aligned for Bolton and he dashed away to score an excellent win whilst on the quick back up. He was given a lovely ride by Hall and when the gaps opened he was able to work through and show enough turn of foot to put them away. Conquering Journey was heavily backed and yet again burnt punters that followed the money. He can’t be taken seriously. Ship In The Night was ridden upside down and that took away his finishing burst, poor tactics. Chasse did what he does best and that’s run into second and Seguro hit the line well for third and he is very close to a win. Worth noting: Forgive Ship In The Night he settled to close to the speed. Race 8. 1800M Tributes Handicap INFUSE STEVEN KING 1st $4.20 PHANTOM BREW DAMIEN OLIVER 2nd $9 SIDECAR JAKE NOONAN 3rd $8.50 Infuse was heavily backed, jumped well stacked them up and won well. He is a nice type on an upward spiral and will continue to improve and make less mistakes. He won this coming out of an RB58 and in the end he did it pretty easily and King had one ride one win. The rest of the race was fairly uneventful. Sidecar, Bold Trojan and Phantom Brew all worked and looked to plod to the line. Measin was again poor and not sure where to for him. Worth noting: Follow Infuse
——————————————————————————————
Rosehill review compiled by Todd Burmester
Race 1 1st Alberton Park Chad Schofield 2nd First Look Hugh Bowman 3rd Hatton Garden Blake Shinn We Betcha missed the start. Rosie’s Reward made its intentions known early but Forward Love kicked up inside it which ensured a good tempo. This left Rosmerta three wide on the speed with First Look and Alberton Park getting cushy runs in 4th and 5th. Once those in front were spent, these two settled down to fight it out with Alberton Park doing best for the win. Hatton Garden ran on reasonably well. The run of Recorrido was disappointing again. It seems she can occasionally look like a very good horse but for the moment is not going well. Follow: Hatton Garden Race 2 1st Hardbreak Hotel Rod Quinn 2nd Thumbtacks Glyn Schofield 3rd Royal Esprit Hugh Bowman Good pace again here with So So Sure finding the fence in front of Riding To Win. This left Thumbtacks in the cheap seats so it had to be restrained back in the field. Similar to the first race, this then gave Hardbreak Hotel and Equable very good runs behind the speed. Irish Jig was another caught wide that eventually had to go back. In the run to the line, Hardbreak Hotel killed them but the run of Thumbtacks was very good to run on again into second after the forwards/backwards tactics. Royal Esprit missed the kick but got past the rest in the straight to run third. Follow: Thumbtacks Race 3 1st Cavalry Rose Glyn Schofield 2nd Diamond Earth Peter Robl 3rd Taxmeifyoucan Hugh Bowman Plenty of pace as expected in the two-year-old event with Diamond Earth finding the front. Cavalry Rose made good use of its inside barrier to hold the fence and end up just behind the leaders. Vavavic was caught three wide in third and Single In Paris had a horror run four wide. Diamond Earth took off upon straightening which let Cavalry Rose out of the pocket. At the 200m mark if you were on Diamond Earth you were shouting the bar however it stopped in the last 50m and Cavalry Rose kept coming to just get up on the line and she looked as if she will learn from the run. Not a lot can be said for the rest as they were a good margin away. I liked the way the winner kept trying in the run to the line. Follow: Diamond Earth Race 4 1st War Charm Peter Robl 2nd Aberrant Sam Clipperton 3rd Cindarockinrella Andrew Stead Miss Spoken found the front from Abberant and they did not look to go as fast here as in the early events. Cindarockinrella and Diamond To Pegasus were the ones getting nice runs behind the speed. Angel Of Mercy and Hoylonny who were the top two in betting appeared to travel well in the run but were quickly in trouble upon straightening due to the slow pace and never threatened. The eventual winner in a blanket finish was War Charm which weaved its way through after an economical run three back on the fence. I am not sure the form of this race can be followed to reliably due to lack of pace. Follow: Hoylonny (give it one more go, and look for a race with pace on) Race 5 1st Magic Weekend Brenton Avdulla 2nd Vilakazi Street Glyn Schofield 3rd Mighty Obvious Tom Berry Mighty Obvious was ridden with intention and found the lead. Princess Qualo was outside it with Magic Weekend caught three wide until eventually working to “the death seat”. They bunched up on the turn and in the end it was a fair effort by Magic Weekend to keep fighting all the way to the line and win narrowly from Vilakazi Street. The favourite in the race, Aeronautical, was out the back the whole way and never came into it. The form guide for him will have to read “see again”. Perhaps another race where the form may not be all that reliable. Follow: None to follow Race 6 1st Cabernet Brenton Avdulla 2nd Parthian Sean Guymer 3rd Mr Unforgettable Andrew Stead They took a little while to sort themselves out here but eventually O’Crikey which looked the likely leader found that position. Key West was outside him giving Parthian a good smother on the fence behind the leader. The impressive winner of the race was Cabernet who smoked its pipe four back on the fence. It was obvious the horse was bolting on the turn and Brenton Avdulla knew it. He rode a patient race taking inside runs to make ground before switching around heals and the horse did the rest. In the end she came clear to win by about three lengths and she can be followed to win more races. The rest had no excuses in my opinion. Follow: Cabernet Race 7 1st Single Nathan Berry 2nd Rolling Pin Hugh Bowman 3rd Tropicana Girl Corey Brown The most interesting race of the day and in the end, the recipe for success was simple. Class and tactical speed. Rolling Pin found the front with its big weight and the eventual winner Single took a lovely run in about 6th on the fence. Single had been tried in better races as a three-year-old and the spell since seems to have improved it. The Owl settled second in the run but dropped out badly in the straight and you can imagine it will go for a spell now. Single railed up behind Rolling Pin before the turn and you had the feeling he would always get past him and he did. Jimmy Fortunes and Irish Love both get a pass mark here, however Irish Love has bad barrier manners. Follow: Jimmy Fortunes Race 8 1st Kinnersley Adam Hyeronimous 2nd Romanus Chris Reith 3rd Oakfield Commands Jim Cassidy Kinnersley was wide early so worked to the lead when the pace was not fast. Oakfield Commands who many probably expected to lead landed second in the run. Kinnersley kept finding in the straight to hold on for the win. You have to give full marks to Adam Hyeronimous for the ride as he summed it up nicely early and took some initiative. Romanus ran on as it often does to get into second in front of Oakfield Commands. Think Mink will be improved for the run and wound up fourth. Follow: Think Mink Specials from the meeting: Hatton Garden, Cabernet, Think Mink
