Welcome to Weekend Winners, your one-stop tipping sheet for a big Saturday of Group I racing.
THOUSAND GUINEAS TIP – ALIZEE (Caulfield - Race 6 No. 2) – We can’t go past the favourite in the Thousand Guineas on Saturday. She’s gone from being a gunna to a winner when ridden off the speed in her past couple and now she’s one of the most exciting horses in the country. She’s a beast of a filly and will tower over her rivals on Saturday and provided Caulfield doesn’t bring her undone, we just can’t see her being beaten.
CAULFIELD STAKES TIP – BONNEVAL (Caulfield - Race 7 No. 11) – She’s a beauty this mare and one of the leading candidates for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups. Her two wins this prep have been top notch and from what we’ve seen in the past, she gets better as the distances increase and on Saturday she steps up to 2000m. She’ll go back from the gate but we’re hoping she’ll find the back of Hartnell in the run and he can be her bunny. She’s short but she’s a winner and we couldn’t tip anything to beat her.
CAULFIELD GUINEAS TIP – ROYAL SYMPHONY (Caulfield - Race 8 No. 6) – This Victorian colt is one of the runners in the Caulfield Guineas that will relish a strongly run mile which he is likely to get on Saturday with horses like The Mission, Perast and Sirconni setting the pace and it wouldn’t shock if they also sent Sanctioned forward from his wide gate, coming back from 2000m. Royal Symphony wants this trip, and possibly more, and he’s drawn favourably so not to get bottled up inside runners. We expect him to be in the finish.
TOORAK HANDICAP TIP – EGG TART (Randwick - Race 9 No. 9) – High class mare that missed the Epsom due to an eye infection but she hasn’t missed any work and looked ready to go when given an easy time in a recent trial. She produced a cracker when resuming, making up good ground behind the record-breaker Deploy in the Theo Marks and she has a good weight here for a horse that appears to have plenty of upside. Should secure a good run from the gate and she is proven the anti-clockwise direction. Unbeaten in two goes at the mile, she’ll run a massive race.
THE EVEREST TIP – CHAUTAUQUA (Randwick – Race 8 No. 1) – One thing you learn in sport is the champions are the champions because on the big stage they deliver. Dusty Martin in Richmond’s Grand Final win, Billy Slater in the Melbourne Storm’s Grand Final win and only this week Tim Cahill in the Socceroos World Cup qualifier. This is as big a stage as any of these have been on and in the past Chautauqua has been the horse to deliver on the big stage so we’re in his corner. This is the race he’s been set for and the stable have mastered getting horses to deliver in their grand finals. It will be a heart in the mouth ride but if one horse can do it – that horse will be Chautauqua.
STAR BET – SUNCRAZE (Randwick - Race 4 No. 11) – He a good horse this bloke and the Anniversary Highway should be run in a manner that plays right into his hands. Showed his quality when gunning down the smart Don’t Give A Damn and he showed how strong the form is when coming out and winning a Highway Handicap a fortnight later by 6-1/2 lengths (and he’ll probably win the first on Saturday). Back to Suncraze, he’s been a work in progress throughout his short career but with every start he’s more tractable and you can’t substitute class, which is something he has plenty of. They’ll run along here and he’ll be hard to hold out.
VALUE TIP – JUNGLE EDGE ( Randwick Race 7 No. 2) – Last start he never got out and went to the line untested when he would have been in the finish, beaten 2-1/4 lengths by She Will Reign at weight-for-age in the Moir Stakes. She Will Reign is a $5 chance in The Everest and somehow Jungle Edge is $34 in the back-up race – the Sydney Stakes. We know he races well in Sydney, he’s proven at weight-for-age and a strongly run race won’t harm his chances, he ran third in the All Aged Stakes over 1400m during the autumn. They’re expecting 3 to 8mm of rain at Randwick on Saturday – you wouldn’t think that would harm his chances either.
PEDIGREE TIP – SACRED SWORD ( Caulfield Race 1 No. 9) – Being a son of two Group I winners and a three-quarter brother to a Group I winner, he was always going to cost a pretty penny and he was knocked down at the Magic Millions for $550,000. He beat the Maribyrnong Trial runner-up Rainer in a Flemington jumpout and the stable has an excellent record with early season juveniles. They are hard to line up but we think $6 is a fair price if you want to play the Caulfield opener.
JUMP AND RUN TIP – LEGEND OF CONDOR ( Randwick Race 2 No. 7) – He showed everything you want to see from a two-year-old debutant in his trial. Fast early, relaxed, kicked strongly and ran time. Expecting him to lead, trainer has a great record with the early season babies and this one will be hard to beat. $5 is fair enough.
TRAINER TIP – KIDMENEVER ( Caulfield Race 4 No. 7) – One thing we know about this season’s European raiders is, trainer Charlie Appleby knows the right type of horses to bring to Australia. In the past year he’s had 13 runners and produced six winners from his two Australian raids, last spring and in the autumn. This horse arrives in Australia with better recent form than Qewy and Oceanographer did last year and they won the Geelong Cup and the Lexus Stakes. You can get $6.50, that’s a good price.
HE'S A WINNER TIP – RELIGIFY ( Caulfield Race 5 No. 2) – At Weekend Winners we love a winner and this bloke is exactly that. He’s won 13 from 30, four from 10 at 1400m and three from six when resuming. He’ll race on speed, is a proven weight carrier, looks to be able to dominate here and when he does that he is rarely beaten. This looks a great race to kick him off in and they’re betting $5 – you know the old saying ‘the more they win the better the price’.
NEW MODEL TIP – AUVRAY ( Randwick Race 6 No. 6) – What a turnaround this character has made in recent months. He couldn’t get out of his own way a few months back but Richard Freedman has found the key and the horse is doing a great job. Gets to 2600m on Saturday and recent efforts would indicate the further the better and he gets Australia’s best rider of stayers Kerrin McEvoy in the saddle on Saturday. He’s $8 in early markets, that’s a good each-way bet.
