3 minute read
Bunbury hosts the metropolitan meeting out west with the Cyril Flower Stakes the feature.
With a heatwave wreaking havoc out west, the Ascot meeting has been moved to Bunbury to escape the harsh weather.
A top of 37 degress is expected on Saturday, as most of the interest surrounds the feature of the day, the Cyril Flower Stakes (1200m) at Listed level.
The feature sees the return of Karrakatta Plate runner-up Live To Tell, who jumped favourite ahead of Super Smink in the juvenile feature in April last year.
While Super Smink has held the Karrakatta form up, the daughter of Territories has been in the paddock overcoming a throat infection that kept her out of The Pinnacles late last year.
Trained by Simon Miller, the filly will be 301 days between starts when she lines up on Saturday, tackling 1200m off just one lead-up trial at Lark Hill.
She comes up against the Miss Andretti Stakes winner Wild Belle, who should arguably be undefeated this time in.
The four-year-old mare gets the in-form Clint Johnston-Porter in the saddle from a favourable alley, and did sit close to the speed last campaign both at Ascot and down the straight at Flemington.
It looks a great race between two up-and-coming stars of the WA turf, with a slot in The Quokka possibly on the line.
Enough about the feature though, lets get to the Best Bets on the card.
Prior to the feature, the famous cerise and white silks will be carried by ANTIQUE MISS who's looking to bring up a hat-trick of wins.
A daughter of Domesday, Antique Miss had shown promise in her debut campaign when tested in Listed company at just her 7th start.
She appears to be hitting those straps now, raising the bar off a close win at Pinjarra to score comfortably at Ascot last start.
Drawn nicely in barrier three, the drop back to 1200m doesn't appear to be an issue and she looks as though she'll be able to take the next step on Saturday.
It's probably the mug's way out, but AUTUMN REBEL looks close enough to a good thing in Race 5 on Saturday.
At the time of writing, there isn't a whole lot of juice in the price, though he does looks one of the premier three-year-old's heading toward the Derby.
With Zipaway over in Melbourne and A Lot Of Good Men being very plain on resumption here last week, the door may be open for Autumn Rebel to be a live chance in the Derby.
While back to 1600m may be a niggle for some, the way they ran 1800m at Ascot a fortnight ago was farcicle and was a test of sprint speed, rather than strength.
If anything, Autumn Rebel enhanced his chances by showing he can quicken off a slow tempo, as that's how most staying races are run in the west.
He's got the pace to go with the over the mile, Johnston-Porter and Darren McAuliffe are on fire and the three-year-old by The Autumn Sun can continue his winning streak.
The Best From The West
Best Bet: Race 7 Number 5 ANTIQUE MISS @ $3..80*
Next Best: Race 5 Number 7 AUTUMN REBEL @ $1.95*
*prices correct as of 1:15pm AEDT, February 8.
