What a huge day we had last weekend, with our feature race tip of Hawkspur getting the win by a nostril at $10 (along with the Quinella!). We also had Twitter promo tips with The Cleaner ($6) and St.Jean ($4) which also won to give us a great day overall. Let’s look to match that again this week with our feature race coming from Flemington with the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes, which will jump at 4:00pm AEST on Saturday, September 13th.
This race is the launching pad for many horses on the way to the Cox Plate, Caulfield or Melbourne Cups, and with a Good track and sunny skies, it makes for another thrilling day of racing.
The favourite is Dissident ($3.30 at Palmerbet) who smashed them in the final stages of the Memsie Stakes last start. His sprint was too good for the likes of Puissance De Lune and Boban. Can he match that performance again? Some think so, with Dissident likely to get some cover in the front half of the field which should see him ready to produce in the straight once again.
However the longer Flemington straight might just suit some of his challengers this time around.
Boban ($4.20 at Bet365) has had a mixed bag this campaign but is back to the 1600m which is ideal. He won the Group 1 Emirates Stakes over this journey last year, but perhaps the ground will be a little firm and a lack of real pace up front might make it hard for him to make up enough late ground. However Boban loves the long straight and will be in with a big chance.
The other one we give some chance to is one of our favourites in Caulfield Cup winner Fawkner ($10 at Sportingbet). Double figure odds are tempting for a quality horse returning first up who has a good record at track and distance. Wouldn’t be surprising to see Fawkner make an impression but you have to feel that there are others in better position in their preparation.
There is some other money around for Messene ($9.50 at Ladbrokes) who you may like to forgive for last start and also Spillway ($10 at Palmerbet) who is stepping up in grade here.
Verdict: It’s hard to go past the form of Dissident, but we’re going to try. We have a soft spot for Puissance De Lune and feel this is the race where a lot of boxes are ticked. PDL will map perfectly in behind the leaders and could even keep Dissident a little wide. Third-up is the ideal stage of preparation and this is the race he was set for. Loves a good track and finished second in this race by a nose last year. We feel that this is the race for PDL to announce that he’s back at Group 1 level with a big win!
1st Puissance De Lune ($6.40 at Betfair)
2nd Dissident ($3.30 at Palmerbet)
3rd Boban ($4.20 at Bet365)
