Race 6 – 4.05pm WOODHAMS FUEL AND QUBE AGRI BENCHMARK 58 SHOWCASE HANDICAP (1100m)
6. Miss Mayfield has bolted in at her last two starts for Kody Nestor and still looks a mare on the up. She drops back from 1200m to 1100m and has a wide draw to overcome but she has the speed to dart across to offset that to race handy.
Dangers: 5. Tools Down returned with an all-the-way win at Armidale in late January. That was seven weeks ago but a repeat of that is competitive in this. 11. Matter Of Factor is a very fit front-runner also coming off a last start win.
How to play it: Miss Mayfield win
Odds & Evens: Split
Race 7 – 4.45pm SWANNY FOODS AND EVERGREEN GROUP BENCHMARK 58 SHOWCASE HANDICAP (1400m)
4. Spilia benefited from a lovely Jason Collett ride at Mudgee first up but like the way he won over 1200m, a trip short of his best. Has always promised plenty this five-year-old and now win two is out of the way, is well placed to go on with the job.
Dangers: 3. Dusky Damsel was forced back from a wide draw at Dubbo last start but liked the way he attacked the line. Third up out to 1400m from a much kinder barrier he looks ready to win again.
How to play it: Spilia win
Odds & Evens: Split
Race 8 – 5.25pm WRA COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS QUALIFIER (1400m)
Loading
It took 10. Wild Rocket nine starts to break her maiden but ever since then she hasn’t stopping winning, finishing first in four of her past five. This qualifier has been on the radar of Narromine-based trainer Kylie Kennedy after she came into her own last winter and after a fast-finishing third in an unsuitable 1200m first up, before a tenacious win over 1300m second up, Kennedy has her exactly where she wants her heading out to 1400m third up. In an ideal world this would be 1600m and she’d get a wet track, but no horse in the field possesses a finish like hers. Will be coming hardest late.
Dangers: 1. Jailbreak is rated so far above his rivals in terms of a benchmark rating, it’s easy to see why he is an even money favourite. The knock, and there only is one, but it’s perhaps a significant one, is how strong he’ll be at the end of 1400m. His advantage over Wild Rocket is she’ll have three or four lengths to make up on him turning for home. It’s the opposite for Jailbreak’s stablemate 3. Activation, with the gelding likely to find 1400m on the sharp side against this class of rivals. We’ll give him a pass mark from Mudgee first up but he did lump 61kg over 1200m.
How to play it: Wild Rocket win
Odds & Evens: Split
Race 9 – 6pm DAD & DAVE – EVERGREEN TURF – MOSTON COOPER GROUP BENCHMARK 66 SHOWCASE HANDICAP (1600m)
1. Universal Thief faces a similar task to last start where he ran a luckless third at Mudgee behind the heavily supported Velaro. The seven-year-old only has to hold his form to be in the finish again so the early price is appealing.
Dangers: There was plenty to like about the way 7. So Good To Me put her rivals away at Dubbo over 1400m last start. 12. Fearless Mila has won both starts since being transferred to Clint Lundholm, having gone straight to the front.
How to play it: Universal Thief win
Odds & Evens: Odds
Tips supplied by Racing NSW
Full form and race replays available at racingnsw.com.au
