On Saturday we had an extremely exciting kickoff to the autumn carnival with feature races at Sandown and Randwick. Today I’ll run through the key races in my opinion and what results stuck out to me and what horses impressed me over the weekend as ones to watch for the upcoming races this carnival. Not including Anamoe as that just goes without saying at this point, that horse just takes the piss.
Sandown:
Race 3 – Barber: My first bet and win of the day on Saturday were on Barber and it’s safe to say I was very impressed with his performance. $4 for the mighty 2YO was slightly overs in my opinion after seeing his win at Rosehill late last spring. Barber sat in a perfect spot behind the leaders and when the time was right, kicked to the front and held on well. A shoutout to little brose as well who I thought raced really strongly and could be there in some big races this carnival. Barber was great though and it would be silly not to keep an eye on the unbeaten 2YO.
Race 6 – Lofty Strike and Uncommon James: I just want to begin this by asking two things. How was lofty strike $9 and How did he win from there? Lofty strike was in the worst spot imaginable when he approached the turn and somehow came from nowhere, found a gap, and exploded toward the finish. Fantastic ride from Craig Newitt as well but this horse has potential. 0.6L behind Nature strip on champions stakes day as well. Came 7th that day but only 1L behind Rock n Horse. Huge shoutout to Uncommon James who was great and looked like the winner for all money but Lofty Strike was just too good in the end. Watch out for both of these horses.
Race 7 – Nugget: I understand he did not win and I am not taking anything away from the performances of Jacquinot or Gentlemen Roy here. I just want to point out that Nugget ran a close 3rd against the top horses in the country including a result over place getter in the 2022 Cox Plate “I’m Thunderstruck”. Personally, I did not think Nugget was capable of a place getting performance against the higher calibre horses but I was gladly proven wrong. Great ride and an awesome run in the end. Keep an eye on the big boy in the futures markets.
Randwick:
Race 1 – Cafe Millenium: WOW! Wasn’t expecting that. Looked like a bust for all money, was out of control almost and then just pinned it home. That was a great show of a top turn of the foot coming from dead last to a 1.25L win. Might be hyping the run up too much so I’ll keep it brief as that run was its debut. Watch out for this 2YO in some feature races in future. Very quick and will look for a 1200m race.
Race 4 – Learning to Fly: How on earth did she win? Drew the carpark, terrible jump, sat 6 wide the whole trip, was 15th at the 400m, and chased about 8-9 wide. Everything that could of went wrong did go wrong and she has every excuse in the world for a no result let alone a win. Outstanding performance and will be my run of the day for sure. You are silly to not have this horse in your futures market bets. Outstanding run, unreal stuff.
Race 7 – In Secret: I only caught the replay of In Secret’s run as I claimed I did not need to watch it as it was a moral. I almost looked very silly. She missed the start, didn’t settle that well and had to do a lot of work to find a nice gap to hit the clear. Unreal job to win after missing the start, Nash Rawiller rode her to perfection and I am a huge fan of this filly. 2 Group 2’s now along with her Group 1 trophy as a 3-year-old and I will be shocked if she doesn’t win another race this carnival. Huge potential.
Performances Of The Day
1st: Learning to fly
2nd: Lofty Strike
3rd: In Secret