The Giant of the North Handicap Stakes

Well welcome back to the coverage of week 2825 of the Black Type Bugler and given that it is Easter I thought that I would make a return to the writing ranks for the week.

This week’s feature in Tasmania is The Giant of the North Handicap Stakes over the six and a half furlongs on the sloppy dirt and is open to all fillies 3 years old and is worth $50,000.

Typical here for the Tasmanian Jockey Club is the small field as this race has only attracted a field of 4 runners, but they are all close in the betting so hopefully that makes for a close contest.

#1 Tale of Seattle trained by Irishgal: This filly is by Phone Trick and has won a fantastic 7 of her 10 starts to date, she ran a great race last time out when she stalked the speed and ran over the top of the rest of the field in the stretch and recorded a solid 96 speed figure. Prior to that she just missed in a Grade II race in Ireland where she also closed solidly to miss by ¾ of a length. The one query with this filly is the off track, she has not competed on one yet, but she does handle the turf and that to me indicates that she should handle the off dirt. She looks the one to beat.

#2 Bullard Park trained by Lenny7: This filly is very lightly raced for a 3 year old to date only having 5 starts. She is by Ecton Park and has won 3 of those starts to date. This filly won her first 3 starts then her form has dropped off slightly with 2 losses but her speed figures remained solid in the high 80’s. Her speed figure jumped a couple of points with the extra furlong last time out and maybe she is looking for more ground and the drop back in distance here could be against here.

#3 Northern Bender trained by Beckla: Nice looking filly by Refuse to Bend and she has won 3 of her 16 starts to date. This filly has been mixing her distances and also drops back in distance for this race here. She looks to be more suited by the sprint trip here but the query is that she has failed on an off track previously and that she was well held in a stake class race last time out.

#4 In the Spirit trained by Ldstable: Lovely looking filly by Devil’s Bag and she has a great record of winning 5 of her 10 starts. She stepped into stakes company last time out and won very well over this distance and she makes the trip down from Ireland for this race. Last time out she stalked the speed and finished solidly in the stretch and drew away to win by 1 and ¾ lengths. She has solid speed figures in the high 80’s and she can improve here.

Very tricky race here, the standout looks to be Tale of Seattle and she should win from In The Spirit.

Good luck to all!

Simon.