Selections:
#2 - Beour Bay (ROUGHIE OF THE DAY) - $8.00
#3 - Cuban Link - $3.80
#6 - Miss Verbier - $8.50
#4 - Defiant Diva - $7.50
BEST BET - #2 - Beour Bay (ROUGHIE OF THE DAY)
I think that Beour Bay can remain undefeated since joining the Nichols stable back in April this year after which he returned to racing at Wodonga over the 1100m and was far too good for them there, saluting easily by quite a few lengths margin. He then took on more weight at Pakenham when speeding from out wide to lead and again saluted easily. Last time out he took on his hardest contest in this grade at Mornington but again was just too strong as he kept grinding down the leader all run. Should be hard fit fourth up and hardest to beat now if ever.
THE DANGER - #3 - Cuban Link
Cuban Link is always dangerous for Greg Eurell but I just am not sure how well he is going this time in. He’s had four runs since coming back from a spell and the majority of them have been up in BM78 grade on Saturday at Flemington to be fair but he hasn’t really been headed in any of those. However, he dropped back in grade last time out when racing on the Hillside here and set three deep with no cover off the pace, chasing hard the entire straight to overcome a super tough run and end up third. He is definitely fit, meets similar competition to that last run and my only query is how wide he draws again and how much effort it will take to overcome the run. Will look the winner at least some of the way undoubtedly.
VALUE BET - #6 - Miss Verbier
Miss Verbier is shooting out for another win and gets a big chance here in this field under Blake Shinn’s steering. She resumed from a 23 week spell at Kyneton where she didn’t care about being three wide with no cover all trip and easily overcame the run to score well there. She then made it two from two when stepping onto the Heavy at Cranbourne over the 1200m when storming home down the home straight after being held up a couple times to win even better that time. She nearly won again when stepping up to a BM70 at Mornington last time out, powering hard from the back to find the line and just go down second in a super tight finish. Hard fit now, Shinn on, commands respect.