SATURDAY'S BEST
Randwick Race 8 No.12 Miss Fabulass (Kerrin McEvoy) - $3.50
As racing fans, we're always on the lookout for the next big thing. As a punter, you live in hope that you find a potential star early in the piece, as that can be a profitable discovery.
Miss Fabulass, the impeccably-bred daughter of arguably the greatest racehorse of all time in Frankel, out of one of the best Australian race fillies of this century in Samantha Miss, has as good a chance as any to be the next thoroughbred freak. Saturday's Furious Stakes will go a long way to determining just where her ceiling ability wise is at and, quite honestly, I'm all in on her.
Live by the sword, die by the sword. I think she is top class, A-grade quality and a definite multiple group one winner in the making; I'm more than happy to declare that and see where it takes me.
This is a good edition of the Furious, as it's a pretty decent crop of three year-old-fillies. But I feel like Miss Fabulass could be an Unwordly or Samantha Miss-type that could just take the bull by the horns and cut a swathe through the ranks. I'm banking on it starting here.
AROUND THE GROUNDS
Randwick Race 7 No.15 Unforgotten (Hugh Bowman) - $3.60
There are some genuine spring stars on show at Randwick on Saturday and there may be none more capable of having a lucrative campaign as Unforgotten.
The Australian Oaks winner is being set on a Caulfield Cup path, and could easily win a few on the way, starting with Saturday's Chelmsford Stakes. She comes into this off the back of a real eye-catcher of a first-up run in the Winx Stakes, flashing through the middle of the pack late on in some quality sectionals; it was exactly the type of effort her trainer Chris Waller would have been hoping for.
She gets to the mile here, is a horse that's proven she can improve quickly in her prep and draws perfectly to not have to get way out of her ground early. Hugh Bowman jumps on board in a sign of faith, and the fact is that most of this field are not genuine weight-for-age gallopers; they're either quality mile-type handicappers or older stayers still in the early part of their prep.
I think she stamps her class on this field and proves she's on track for a huge prep.
Caulfield Race 2 No.10 Holbien (Ben Melham) - $4.20
Holbien fast became one of my favourite young gallopers throughout his last prep, winning three from five. He proved he was a very straightforward, bombproof type that ticks a lot of boxes as far as things you like to see in successful racehorses. Two of those key assets are early speed to put himself into a race, and plenty of heart allowing him to fight in the run to the post.
He returns now at four in a good field for a benchmark 78, and a big one at that, but he's the type of horse that can take advantage of drawing the inside gate and he really should get a peach of a run from there just off the speed. Yes, he'll need luck to get the splits when required; but you have to trust that he does.
I can see him getting to stakes level this time in, and if he wins this, he should get every opportunity to do just that.
Caulfield Race 7 No.8 Kementari (Glyn Schofield) - $4.40
It's not as vast a gap as it was when the market first went up, but I thought there wouldn't be much between Vega Magic and Kementari at the top of the betting for the Memsie Stakes. A few may have lost a little faith in the son of Lonhro after two defeats this time in, but I'm certainly not one of them because I believe the excuses have been genuine on both occasions.
He should have won first up in the Missile; if gets out two strides earlier from the slight pocket he was in, he runs down Pierata.
Then in the Winx Stakes, he was too far back and Hugh Bowman completely outrode Glyn Schofield once Kementari somehow ended up inside Winx at the 800; she was always going to be going past him in the straight, but I thought from where he was Kementari still did a good job to not be far from grabbing second place.
Schofield won't make the same mistake here, he'll be positive from that widish gate with. Jungle Edge and Vega Magic have drawn just inside him, so I think he'll look to try and come over behind them and hopefully can sit one out, one back with Showtime on his inside. With any luck, Vega Magic doesn't get the same lead he got in the Bletchingly and Jungle Edge kicks up; if that all plays I reckon Kementari can pounce late and win his first major as an older horse.
OVER THE ODDS
Randwick Race 6 No.2 Comin' Through (Michael Walker) - $12
He's a group one winner of more than $1.6 million and has competed at the highest level for pretty much his entire career, but somehow I feel as though Comin' Through is still an underrated racehorse and he might be ready to for his best prep yet now as a five-year-old.
His autumn four-year-old campaign was his first one as a gelding, and I think we saw a more genuine galloper come to raceday. He didn't put in one poor run all prep, the highlights being a win in the Ajax Stakes, a fantastic second in the Doncaster Mile, while he ended the prep by finally breaking through at group one level in the Doomben Cup in courageously getting the best of stablemate Egg Tart.
Don't forget, his half brother Criterion blossomed into a weight-for-age star as an older horse and this guy might be ready to do something similar now.
As far as this race goes, Comin' Through looks overs to me; he has always performed well fresh, loves Randwick, draws to get a soft run and I don't think he's badly in at all. It's a good race, but this is a very good horse and I can see him starting this prep with a slightly-surprising first-up win.
QUADDIE SELECTIONS
Leg 1 - 1,2,4
Leg 2 - 2,15
Leg 3 - 3,12
Leg 4 - 2,3,5,7,8,9,10.11.12
($100 = 92.6%)
Leg 1 - 1,2,4,6,7,8,11,15
Leg 2 - 8
Leg 3 - 1,2,3,4,6,12,13
Leg 4 - 1,5,6,10,14
($100 = 35.71%)