With a quieter weekend ahead of us, OTI and its partners have just five runners taking to the track in New South Wales and Victoria. From Flemington to Hawkesbury we hope to see a winner or two!
Headline act this Saturday is Group 1 winning mare Aloisia, contesting the 1600m Group 2 Villiers Stakes at Royal Randwick, Sydney. Looking to return to the winner’s stall for the first time in just over 12 months, Aloisia has been working bayside on the beach in Victoria and is primed for the run. The Maher and Eustace training team are hoping to see her overcome her wide draw, jumping from barrier 12 in the field of 14 runners.
After some heavy rainfall the past couple of days in Melbourne, it will be a rain-affected track at Flemington this Saturday. Making for some interesting racing conditions, the track is currently rated a soft five with more rain expected Saturday afternoon. Romancer, a horse that has previously won and placed on soft to heavy ground won’t mind the going at Flemington and takes on fellow OTI runner Scherzoso in the BM84 1700m. After running second in both the Traralgon and Dunkeld Cups the last two starts, we hope to see Scherzoso go one better. In what poses to be a reasonably strong field, we are looking for both horses finish off strongly.
To Saturday evening, we have San Remo set to run at his most favourable distance in the 3000m BM70 at Cranbourne’s twilight meeting. The son of Frankel is one to stay all day and trainer Archie Alexander has been very pleased with his recent progress after running a solid third place at Moonee Valley last start. In what he believes is the right race for the horse and Jordan Childs taking up the ride again, we hope to see him in the top three.
On Sunday afternoon, Dusk Falls steps out in New South Wales for the first time under the care of Warwick Farm based trainer Matthew Smith. He heads to Hawkesbury for the 2000m Class 2 race after having had the chance to freshen up and complete a trial this week at his new home track.
Best of luck to the connections and happy racing!
