While Flemington produced a bumper day's racing on Saturday, there were plenty of promising performances elsewhere during the last seven days for punters to follow in the coming weeks.
SALE 10/9/17
CASTLETON
The son of All Too Hard stepped out for his third outing at Sale and did a terrific job to break his maiden in strong fashion. Castleton battled on the Pakenham Synthetic track on debut before produding a solid effort at Sandown at his second outing on August 23. Mick Price sent the three-year-old back to the provincials and gave him another go at the mile with good effect at Sale. Castleton showed more tactical speed to give himself every chance before he maintained a strong gallop to score comfortably. The way he kept building the longer the race went was the best part of his effort and he can progress to harder races as distances increase.
WODONGA 11/9/17
OKLAHOMA DAYS
This daughter of Melbourne Cup winner Americain has only had two starts but is ready to win after a solid Wodonga outing on September 11. She ran a fair fourth on debut at Sale on July 2 but trainer Mick Price gave her more time to develop ahead of a spring preparation. She trialled well at Cranbourne on September 4 before giving a good show in front over 1400m at Wodonga. Her stablemate Tagreeda had the softer run and duly beat Oklahoma Days but the runner-up was far from disgraced. Watch for her as she gains experience and a win over a longer trip is just around the corner.
MORNINGTON 13/9/17
MYLEX
Sometimes promising horses from the smaller stable can sneak under our guards and Mylex could be one of those types in the coming weeks. She ran a reasonable race when only beaten four lengths after being slowly away at Cranbourne at $151 on debut on July 6 before returning 10 weeks later in a metropolitan standard race at Mornington. She was a touch slow to begin again, which left her in a tricky spot on the Mornington circuit but she was eased at the 200m and had to go back to the inside where she was not able to be fully tested. If she can improve that habit of being slow away with race experience, she's a chance to bob up at odds somewhere soon.
BENDIGO 14/9/17
TAVISTOCK ABBEY
Tavistock Abbey produced one of the wins of the week when stepping up to the mile at Bendigo. He ran a good second on debut on the Geelong Synthetic track but went poorly on the Geelong turf circuit at his second outing four weeks later on September 3 when he simply didn't respond to jockey Mark Zahra's riding. However, a different horse turned up at Bendigo. Starting at $21, Tavistock Abbey settled closer to the speed for Luke Currie before racing away to score by the best part of four lengths, relishing the 1600m. A son of Tavistock out of a Zabeel mare, Tavistock Abbey is bred on the same cross as Victoria Derby winner Tarzino and Hong Kong Gold Cup winner Werther. He should improve with racing and more ground.
