The Sydney Everest Carnival commences at Royal Randwick on Saturday with the Sydney Surf to Turf Day. With sunshine and blue skies forecast, the track is rated a Good 4 and the rail is true for the entire circuit. Randwick tends to play fairly evenly across most distances, and with lots of room and a long home straight, expect to see runs coming from everywhere.
We commence the day with Race 2, TAB Highway Handicap (1000m), and the striking colt Kreon has caught our eye. His three career starts to date have resulted in two wins by 4.3L and 5.5L, and the drop in class here looks ominous.
Drawn well in barrier 4, he should be up on the speed early with Perennial and Saratoga Power and looks set to make them catch him. The 1000m at Randwick is one distance that does favour leaders jumping from the inside gates, and we wouldn’t be surprised to see another gap here at the finish.
Race 7 is the Group 2 Darley Tea Rose Stakes (1400m) for fillies. Manaal is on top for us here. She just hung on for a 0.1L win last time out at Randwick, turning the tables on Ameena with a 3kg weight swing.
Her six track starts have resulted in four wins and a minor placing, she’s 1:1 over the 1400m, and will handle the dry track with two wins and two placings from five starts. There does not appear to be a lot of speed in the race and we’re expecting her to be midfield at best, before looking to run them down late.
Race 9, Yarraman Park Shorts (1100m), is another Group 2 event, and we are hoping to see James McDonald steer the favourite I Am Me to a win. Second up for the prep (5:2-1), this mare loves the Randwick circuit and boasts a 75% strike rate here.
She is four wins from six starts at the 1100m, she is drawn ideally in barrier 2 and should have a nice run in the first couple of pairs. Our Kobison looks next best to us and could be each way value at $15 currently.
We have not tipped a quaddie for a while now, so let us see if we can bring one home this weekend. Our numbers are:
1/2/5/6
2/3/6/7
1/4/6/10
1/2/4/14
Enjoy the Sydney sunshine and good luck.
As published on Thoroughbrednews.com.au