Sydney Oaks Draws 10 – Preview
Victoria, Australia has an amazing race-card coming up this weekend with this one, the Sydney Oaks, featuring the top 3 finishers in last month’s New Zealand Oaks facing each other once again after the short hop to the Land Down Under. What’s even more amazing is that the top two NZ Oaks finishers are ranked #1 and #2 in the Long Turf division for 3yo fillies, yet the CPU handicapper has somehow chosen to make a NW2L-eligible filly the 7/2 favorite!
Let’s have a closer look at this intriguing field:
MANGOOSA is one versatile and talented filly; the marude trainee has won 3 of 5 on the dirt and 3 of 5 on the turf, and even is 1-for-1 on the poly surface. The talented Tiger Hill filly’s only poor performance came on a yielding turf course; but there is no danger of that here with sunny weather in the 70’s forecast. Unfortunately, that poor start was also her only stakes try, so we really have little idea on just how good this filly can be. The confused CPU drops 10/1 odds on her.
Let’s not forget about AMNEZIA… This Street Cry filly has been on a roll in middle-distance allowances and has impressed trainer tyr enough to ship her to Sydney all the way from Ohio and stretch out almost half-a-mile in her stakes debut. Lots of questions to answer, gets 7/1 price.
HOUSE OF YAHWEH goes off as the 7/2 favorite despite the fact she’s never run in a graded stakes and that she’s never won any stakes despite five tries. A closer look does reveal that those who have beaten her in these stakes have mostly gone on to bigger and better things, so maybe the Danehill Dancer filly can get over the hump against these… But there are also distance questions for the lado trainee.
WOTSITS WORTH is another who jumps up in class and distance, and finished well behind HOUSE OF YAHWEH last time out. The newmarket1 trainee will need to have a much better performance to compete well here at 7/1. Like many in here, the Deep Impact filly also has distance questions. Excellent pedigree, but it appears to have a heavy influence toward sprinter/miler ability.
PEANUT MNM takes an interesting route to get to this race… An extremely easy win in a “hot” race. It was a 16-furlong race, but still, an easy-jogging win is just that. The blue-blooded Dylan Thomas filly will need to crank up the juice for lgbost2yos to get much done against these at 17/1.
AIN’T THAT A GROOVE was the 2nd-place finisher in the aforementioned New Zealand Oaks. A Dubawi filly, she has showed a high level of distance-racing aptitude in three consecutive graded-stakes placings at 10 furlongs or longer. It would be no surprise to see her turn the tables in this spot for super22, at 4/1.
QUINNIE THE POOH made her graded-stakes debut last time out, finishing strongly to get 3rd in the New Zealand Oaks for trainer capeside. It’s been a very long time since an offspring of Leroidesanimoux won a graded stakes but this one has a real shot to break through that barrier, especially if there’s an honest pace early on. 7/1 is a more-than-fair deal.
MONTFORCE is still eligible for NW2L allowance races and has never won a 2-turn race; trainer graywolf appears to be taking a moon shot here with this Political Force filly. Figures to be a pace factor early on, but it’s not easy to imagine this 22/1 shot being around when it matters.
TIME TO WORK IT is another who adds a good bit of distance for her graded-stakes debut. The Workforce filly did close nicely at 9.5 furlongs a couple races back, though. The mtkmojo trainee gets 9/1 odds for this.
MONEY INDYSKY seems to be holding all the aces for this one, already having three graded-stakes wins under her belt, including the New Zealand Oaks. This time, though, it appears the etonic trainee will have more competition for the early lead. The well-bred Monsun filly goes off at 4/1.
For a 12-furlong race, there is quite a bit of early-pace types running in this one… So I’ll pick AIN’T THAT A GROOVE to turn the tables and get the win over MONEY INDYSKY, who just misses after being softened up by the hotter-than-usual early pace.
Coming on strong to get 3rd will be QUINNIE THE POOH.
Good luck all!