Best Bet | Race 6 #2 Tokoriki Lad
Despite being a 7yo now, Tokoriki Lad proved in his recent trial he’ll likely still have a touch of class over this field. He’s first-up here and his fresh record reads poorly on face value (without a place from six starts), but his performance have been much better than those figures suggest. He’s been sparingly raced the past year, but has previously been in calculations to get a start in much bigger races, including top shelf events like the Stradbroke. He only had two runs last prep and they were excellent – close-up behind The Odyssey in the $1m Magic Millions race and then not far off the smart Emerald Kingdom. I liked his recent trial with boom apprentice Kyle Wilson-Taylor and he sticks on Saturday. He’ll get back in this race but there’s some decent speed engaged for him to fly late.
Next best | Race 8 #10 Snowdrop
A chance for Snowdrop to make amends after what was a horror show here three weeks ago. She’s drawn a wide gate again but I’m sure they’ll be positive after the decision last start to restrain her back to the rear. Jim Byrne also hops aboard, which is a plus after Jaden Lloyd’s average steer last time. As mentioned in the black book, her form is well up to winning a race like this in Queensland.
Best each way | Race 2 #7 Rockin’ Artie
Huge price for a promising lightly-raced 3yo. All of his recent form is around the smart Release the Beans and importantly, he’s not in this race. In fact, this race looks to have much less depth than his previous assignments and I think he can go close as the outsider in the race. He does have the widest gate, but in a small field, Jaden Lloyd can weigh up his options and perhaps settle either outside the lead or one-out, one-back.