As we head towards the Autumn Racing Carnival we have some quality mid-week racing ahead of us today at Sandown and Randwick Kensington. We've got Billy Bestford in the saddle today to find the best bets across these meetings for a cheeky fill-up before a massive weekend of racing. Check out today's best bets below!
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Horse Racing Tips - Wednesday, February 17th
Randwick-Kensington Race 2
This looks a relatively strong mid-week maiden with a number of horses resuming who have looked the part in recent trials or previous runs. With that being said, it looks a nice race for the Bjorn Baker trained (2) Lady Of Luxury who appears to have her foot on the till and a win looks close. She has managed to find one better in each of her two runs this prep but both starts have been impressive. The first up performance behind Newsreader reads particularly well with that horse going on to win comfortably last week in a stronger race. Rachel King will be able to find a nice position in running from the barrier while the step up to 1400 and the wet track both look positives.
As mentioned this looks a strong race on paper with (5) The Denzel and (1) Nearly Fine looking the main dangers. I think the latter looks a touch overs at the $9.50 on offer at the moment as the Newnham-trained gelding continues to race well without winning. Happy to speck it as a small saver.
Saver: (1) Nearly Fine - $9.50 at Sportsbet
Sandown Race 2
We get to see some two-year olds in action here with most of them looking like they have some sort of ability following recent performances. The top of the market is dominated by two colts in (1) Lightsaber and (2) Daily Bugle. The Peter Moody trained Lightsaber was an impressive winner at his second career start having been well backed and controlling things nicely. With that being said, I want to be with Daily Bugle in this one. He ran good time on debut at Pakenham where he went around a $26 chance. He beat home Tramontana that night who has shown plenty of ability in the maiden ranks.
There looks to be plenty of speed on paper and I think this should set up nicely for the Griffiths 2-year old. Luke Currie will likely have to go back from the wide gate and hopefully get the last shot at some tiring on-speed horses. The map looks the main concern here and concede that Lightsaber is hard to beat, but going off the numbers from his debut Daily Bugle looks to have a bright future and can take the next step here this afternoon.
Randwick-Kensington Race 5
Happy to speck one at big odds here in Race 5 at Kensington. Chris Waller import (2) Zegalo has come up a huge price in this race and I think he looks the best each-way bet across the country today. With two wins and six placings from eight starts in the UK, the 4-year old clearly has some ability. He comes out of a much stronger BM78 Saturday race where he started as short as $9 there. That was obviously his first run in Australia and you can easily make a case to forgive him on the back of that. Bowman jumps aboard and his record back in the UK tells us he is going to enjoy the wetter conditions on offer today. Looks a big improver 2nd up and am happy have something on at an each-way price.
(6) Marsannay is the obvious horse to beat with a string of placings to his name and looks close to a win. You’d expect he will jump to the front and be hard to catch in these conditions however I can’t get too excited about taking red figures about him today.
Randwick-Kensington Race 7
We close out the card in Sydney with a competitive Benchmark 72 over 1400m. (1) Faschanel comes into this race off the back of a huge performance in a stronger Saturday race a couple weeks ago. The horse that beat him there was April Rain who looks to have group-class ability and you would expect to be a short-priced favourite in a race like this. Faschanel managed to get within half a length of that horse on the day and can only improve from the run, while dropping back in grade is an obvious plus. The booking of James McDonald is a positive and the horse has drawn perfectly in barrier 8, leaving plenty of options for a nice run in transit.
I think (6) Brookspire is a well-deserved favourite following a couple of smart performances, including a win over Exoboom. With that being said, the filly has drawn widest here and looks like it will only get better over a longer trip. Happy to have something on Faschanel at around the $4 mark and hopefully closes out a nice day for us!
