Golden Gift Preview and Tips 09/11/24

Think the Spring Racing Carnival is winding down now after the Melbourne Cup? Well, think again! It’s another massive day of racing once again on Saturday as we see three Group One races at Flemington along with two key races at Rosehill. No time for rest everyone - there’s still more action to be had.

In Rosehill, we see the Golden Gift along with The Five Diamonds and then down in Melbourne, we have the Champions Stakes, the Champions Mile and the Champions Sprint. The 2024 Spring Racing Carnival is certainly not over, so make sure your schedule for Saturday, it’s going to be a big one.

Before the races kick off, make sure you check out my Saturday tips for the Golden Gift here at OnlyRacing. I also have a set of tips for all other races mentioned above, so there’s plenty more to read. I have put together five best bets for the race, meaning there’s something for everyone.

The 2024 Golden Gift features some runners who have just one career start under their belts and for others, this will be their first official race start. This makes it very difficult to figure out the race tempo and the likely leaders. As runners don’t have a lot of experience, I would say the race will be run at a slower-than-usual pace. 

It’s an open field as well, with five of the nine runners listed with odds of $6.50 or under (with PlayUp). However, for the current pre-race favourite, North England, I reckon the colt will settle just behind the leader, giving himself some much-needed cover and considering there are only nine in the race, there should be plenty of room for him in the closing stages.

Boy, it really does make me nervous picking horses when there’s basically no form to dig into whatsoever - but you gotta do what you gotta do! There’s a field of nine in this one and only six have completed one race, with the other three not competing at all. With all that being said, I’m going with the narrow $3.40 favourite with PlayUp, North England.

I think we can expect a lot of improvement from the colt, who finished second in his first career race, which was in the Group Three Breeders’ Plate. Jockey Tim Clark keeps the ride and that’s always a good thing in my books. Wouldn’t be surprised if North England sticks near the lead and is the perfect position to be in.

There are a lot of other contenders in this one who could have easily slotted into my safe bet for the Golden Gift, but in the end, I’ve sided with O’ Ole. Basing a lot of this on her recent trial work. She’s had two trials so far in her career and looked great in both of them (it also helps that she won both of them as well!).

In her one career race to date, she finished second, by 1.5L in the Group Three Gimcrack Stakes. Jockey Rachel King sticks with O’ Ole from that run and will be aboard again on Saturday. At the time of writing, O’ Ole is on the third line of betting with Bet365, with odds of $5.00. O’ Ole will likely lead and could end up leading post-to-post.

Picking my value bet based on one trial - have you ever seen anything like it! West Of Swindon is related to Faulkner (a three-time Group One winner) and the colt is looking sharp, from the very small sample size we have seen. With Dabble, we are currently getting $6.50 for West Of Windon.

The 1,100m that he’ll get in the Golden Gift looks to be the perfect distance and he showed his potential in his first trial when winning at Warwick Farm in late October. Looks like a professional youngster and raced out to the front, settled into his grove and then produced the speed when needed.

Tupakara is one of the more experienced runners in the field, with one career start and two trials under her belt! Her first career race saw her finish fourth in the Gimcrack Stakes, by 2.2L. A lot went wrong for her in that one after being held up at a critical time, but she did show what she could do when she finally managed to get in free air.

There were 14 runners in that race, with only nine here, so that could work in her favour as she is less likely to get into trouble again. I am expecting some improvement as after that race she trialled well, winning at Warwick Farm. The filly is currently on the second line of betting at QuestBet, with odds of $4.80.

Ignore the “best roughie” title above, as I couldn’t nail down a true roughie for the 2024 Golden Gift, so I’m going with Icarian Dream, who at $6.00 with Bet Right does present a little bit of value in my opinion. I reckon she is a little overs and looks ready for another great race after breaking her maiden last time out in the Ranvet Maiden Plate at Warwick Farm.

Got the win there in soft conditions, which I don’t think is where she’ll do her best work. She gets more favourable conditions on Saturday, which sets her up even better, so I’m a little confused as to why she is at the $6.00 mark, but hey, I’ll take it. Will jump from a nice barrier (four), so she’ll have a lot of options as well.

All my Golden Gift horse racing tips and their odds can be found here:

Bookmaker	Tip	Odds
	North England (win)	$3.40
	O’ Ole (each-way)	$5.00/$1.85
	West Of Swindon (place)	$2.20
	Tupakara (place)	$1.72
	Icarian Dream (each-way)	$6.00/$2.05