BEST BET – Race 8 – #4 ROMAN AUREUS
Roman Aureus has had the 16 starts, but I’m convinced he remains an untapped galloper with the best still to come. He’s a consistent performer, and from those 16 trips to the races, he’s only missed the place on three occasions. I can make a serious case for him beating Desert Lord first-up last start when he was squeezed for room on the fence. Once he saw clear daylight he rocketed home for second, beaten only a length after really knuckling down to the task at the end. There was no money for him first-up, suggesting he had plenty of improvement to come. We should see him come on from that run second-up here out to 1350m. He also loves the Doomben circuit, scoring victory at four of his six starts here. He’ll need some luck from barrier two, but if Larry Cassidy can get him out at the right time, he should be winning.
NEXT BEST – R9 #7 – KINGSTON’S HERE
This 3yo son of Rich Enuff has a bright future and it’s why we added him to the blackbook off his last start. He ran into a smart one in Garoppolo and as mentioned in the blackbook section, I’m confident it’ll prove a strong form race going forward. Kingston’s Here was no match for Garoppolo, however the winner did perhaps have a tiny advantage of getting to what was likely better ground out a touch wider. They beat the rest by a big margin and Kingston’s Here produced strong figures. He found the line strongly and the step up to 1350m should be no issue. He also gets 2.5kg off one of his main rivals (Fleet Dove). While he’s currently around the $2.30 mark at the moment, I reckon we should see closer to $3 around the jump.
BEST EACH-WAY – R5 #15 – ZOUKINA
A frustrating, but talented mare on her day. She seems to perform best at this track, and with some good early pace on in this race, she will get back and storm home. Last time out she ran fourth and didn’t have much luck after being slow away and inconvenienced. She then copped a bump around the turn but finished strongly to be beaten 0.4 of a length. Now she drops 4kg and Jim Byrne sticks with her. She will run well and should find at least the top three.