The Hotham
Sportsbet has launched its own mock version of The Everest called The Hotham – a $50,000 maiden race for Australia’s biggest ‘battlers’.
The race will be run over 1200m at Ballarat this Thursday, October 12th (Race 5) and now stands as Australia’s richest maiden race. Entry was determined by a reverse ballot, whereby priority was given to horses with the worst racing record.
Incredibly, the race received a whopping 151 nominations, with only 12 runners gaining a start. The final field (listed below) is made up of 12 horses with 324 starts between them for zero wins.
|
Runner
|
Trainer
|
Jockey
|
Starts
|
Best Price
|
|
Bellwhist
|
Brooke Schreuder
|
Dean Yendall
|
19
|
$6.50
|
|
Briconi
|
Christopher Davis
|
Patrick Moloney
|
27
|
$27
|
|
Lechter
|
Brydon Mills
|
Jessica Eaton
|
26
|
$9
|
|
Positive
|
Dale Schmitt
|
Daniel Schmitt
|
24
|
$20
|
|
Sathern
|
Nathan Hobson
|
Jye McNeil
|
37
|
$41
|
|
Sergeant Sam
|
Glenn Stewart
|
Noel Callow
|
20
|
$5
|
|
The Black Isle
|
Kathryn Durden
|
Melissa Julius
|
25
|
$5
|
|
Bashirah
|
Jacqueline Greentree
|
Damien Thornten
|
24
|
$16
|
|
Beau Dazzle
|
Dean Boal
|
Tahlia Hope
|
58
|
$27
|
|
Costano Mille
|
Bryce Stanaway
|
Chris Caserta
|
27
|
$23
|
|
Woohoo
|
Leon, Dean & Trent Wells
|
Brian Higgins
|
19
|
$4
|
|
Brother Adam
|
Julie Schmidt
|
Cameron Quilty
|
18
|
$17
|
Key Chances
The Ballarat track is rated a Soft 6 so it could pay to try and find horses that have shown some semblance of ability on wet ground.
WOOHOO comes up favourite for the race, with five placings from 19 starts. She’s been racing in Tasmania, and hasn’t actually been that far away recently. She’s placed in two of her last five starts and has also had some legitimate excuses. She’s placed on soft ground in the past and has at least been slightly competitive leading into this, so with Brian Higgins booked for the ride, she looks a deserved favourite and a leading chance.
A good each way chance in the race is LECHTER, who has had 26 starts for seven placings. Importantly, four of those placings have come from nine starts on soft ground, so he gets conditions to suit. He had a short let-up before finishing 5th at Tatura last start, beaten 3.7L, and before that had placed in four of his last six starts. The concern is that he doesn’t seem to get 1200m, but from the good barrier in a weak field, he gets his chance to win today.
Another horse with some wet track form to speak of is BASHIRAH. She’s had the 24 starts for three placings, but two of those placings have come from just five starts on soft ground. She ran 2nd in a six-horse field last start, and has since had a change of stables so she comes into this first up for the new trainer. It appears that her best racing has been done over slightly longer than 1200m, but on a soft track she could be right in this at $16.
BELLWHIST gets Dean Yendall on board which is a huge positive in a race like this. SERGEANT SAM comes out of a couple of strong form races behind the likes of Superhard and Seven Year Reward, but his only two placings have been on synthetic tracks, while THE BLACK ISLE can bounce back from finishing well-back on a bottomless track last start. I really don’t think SATHERN is completely hopeless, so throw him in your numbers.
Verdict
Happy to have something small on Lechter (3) and Bashirah (8) at the good odds, but will be covering my bets with Woohoo (12).
_ _ _
The team at TopBetta have announced of their brand new GOAT Tote product, offering punters guaranteed better odds than provided on the regular totes. Don't be satisfied with poor odds! Check out the GOAT Tote which will give you the biggest bang for your buck when punting on the races this weekend!
Take note: Any of the tips in this article are simply the author’s opinion, so bet at your own risk and always gamble responsibly. Also be sure to check out the Before You Bet Twitter Page for all our thoughts in the lead up to bets! Happy punting!
