3 minute read
Feature racing heads to Scone with plenty of strong black type events.
The second day of the Scone carnival takes place on Saturday with some deep feature sprints.
The pick of those is the Listed Luskin Star Stakes (1300m) where Amenable poses the age old question of weight against class.
No doubt he's the best horse in the race, hence the 60kg, coming off a last start second to Magic Time in the Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m) on a bottomless track. He ran to 119 there on the R&S scale which is well clear of these, and even with the weight, if he reproduces that rating he'll be winning.
That said, he did start 50-1 there and the track played some part in other horses not running well, however he already had the pieces to say he was a Group 1 sort of horse.
He'd run to 115+ in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) when charging home behind Mr Brightside in huge late splits and also ran that rating when fourth in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) when sitting strong on a fast tempo.
He took a bit to get going as a gelding this time in but I get the feeling last start's 119 was more a reflection of what he'd promised to be, not a fluke, and I'm willing to trust it here.
That said, I will also be having something on Gravina in the same race who resumed for Matthew Dale (ex Godolphin) and ran well in the Wagga Town Plate.
Just a rating of 96 there but the splits were good and it's not all that far off some of his older form. He ran second in this race last year to Opal Ridge and his best ratings (109-110) would go close in this with 54kg.
One of the other features on the card is the Dark Jewel Classic for the girls where Banana Queen hit the line strongly first-up to suggest she's right on track for this.
There wasn't much between a few of the key chances in the Hawkesbury lead up but her late splits were good from too far back and she's the weights horse in this, dropping to 53kg, meeting the favourite Shadows Of Love 3.5kg better for a one-length margin.
She should have more improvement to come than most of those given she was only first-up and can land in a good spot from the draw.
SYDNEY SPECIALS
Bet of the day: Race 9 #1 Amenable at $4.20
Each-way play: Race 8 #11 Banana Queen at $7.50
