30 April – Listed Blue Sapphire Stakes – 1200m

[Sands]

Noms / weights

No. Horse Trainer Weight
1 Highly Recommended Peter G Moody 57kg
2 Charmarama Leon Corstens 56kg
3 Daneson Nigel Blackiston 56kg
4 Deodoro (Nz) Nigel Blackiston 56kg
5 Eight Stars Patrick Payne 56kg
6 Haut Normandie Peter Snowden 56kg
7 Insurpassable Mick Price 56kg
8 Lieutenant Colonel John P Thompson 56kg
9 Scelto (Nz) Robbie Laing 56kg
10 Spatha Lee Freedman 56kg
11 The Counterfeiter Matt Laurie 56kg
12 The New Boy Danny O'Brien 56kg
13 Baptism Lee Freedman 54kg
14 City Of Song John Moloney 54kg
15 Elfina Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes 54kg
16 Marostica Jarrod McLean 54kg
17 Papal Infusion Andrew Noblet 54kg

[Sands]

No Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight
1 Highly Recommended Peter G Moody Luke Nolen 5 57kg
2 Spatha Lee Freedman Jason Maskiell (a) 6 56kg
3 The Counterfeiter Matt Laurie Danny Nikolic 3 56kg
4 The New Boy Danny O'Brien Jamie Mott 1 56kg
5 Daneson Nigel Blackiston Michael Walker 4 56kg
6 Deodoro (NZ) Nigel Blackiston Ms Lisa Cropp 8 56kg
7 Haut Normandie Peter Snowden James Winks 7 56kg
8 Lieutenant Colonel John P Thompson Craig Newitt 9 56kg
9 City Of Song John Moloney Jason Benbow 2 54kg
10 Baptism Lee Freedman Chris Symons 10 54kg

[Silver_and_sand]

Half the field haven't even had two races. I'll go out on a limb and say that the winner won't come from one of the first three favourites (1,2 and 9).

[Sands]

Little luck City Of Song recent starts
Thought a nice debut by Baptism
Both been freshened

[Silver_and_sand]

Little luck City Of Song recent starts
Thought a nice debut by Baptism
Both been freshened

City of Song had a nice win with Avdulla aboard 3 starts ago at Sandown. Benbow did it no favours 2 starts ago at Caulfield though, as he was restraining it for most of the race, only to position it at the top of the straight without a hole to run through. He's getting another chance tomorrow on it, so you would think he would be hopeful of making amends. Given how it wound up and finished off that 1,000m race at Sandown, it shouldn't have any problems going up in distance to the 1,200m for the first time tomorrow.

Baptism's run against City of Song at Caulfield wasn't bad, but it was a slow start, and it didn't have a lot of acceleration towards the end either, which isn't a good combination. I reckon ideally it needs to be run more towards the front, but for that to happen, it also needs to jump out of the barriers much quicker. It's curious that the trainer paid up for Baptism to race 3 times since that 1st race, only to scratch it each time. Lee Freedman must still have some faith that the horse is ready for a good run given that he's got it set to race against higher company and for more prizemoney than what it would have in any of the 3 races it was previously scratched from.

Of those two horses, I'd rather be on City of Song, but who knows with 2yo's. It won't be a betting race for me.

[Sands]

Half the field haven't even had two races. I'll go out on a limb and say that the winner won't come from one of the first three favourites (1,2 and 9).
So what do you fancy Silver_and_sand if pushed for a bet?

[Silver_and_sand]

So what do you fancy Silver_and_sand if pushed for a bet?
I think it's a pretty open race. If I had to have a bet then I'd dutch bet all of the horses except the 3 favourites. At current odds, it looks like I could triple my money, if a non-fav got up.

If I was forced to go with one or two horses, then I'd just try to get some value and maybe go with either The Counterfeiter to run a cheeky race in the lead all the way, or maybe even an unknown like Haut Normandie just to try to get some value.

You?

[Sands]

If I was forced to go with one or two horses, then I'd just try to get some value and maybe go with either The Counterfeiter to run a cheeky race in the lead all the way, or maybe even an unknown like Haut Normandie just to try to get some value.

You?
I'll stick with the two I've already mentioned
Viscount stock normally do best on dry tracks so Haut Normandie could go well on debut

[Silver_and_sand]

Well done selecting City of Song Sands. Benbow did well to give it space out wide to wind up and storm home this time. At least my two longshot selections beat the two well-backed favourites to the finish line.

[Sands]

Yeah nice ride Jason Benbow. City Of Song now off for a spell. Trainer John Moloney obviously has an high opinion of the filly, G1 Thousand Guineas in October will be her main mission.