Welcome to our horse racing preview and betting tips for racing on Monday, August 17th.
We start the new week with just two meetings in Australia, with seven races at Grafton and eight at Ballarat Synthetic. Tim Geers has previewed the meetings and picked out his best bets of the day below!
Horse Racing Tips: Monday, August 17th
Ballarat Synthetic Race 2 (Market)
The Matt Cumani stable has a very good record on the Ballarat Synthetic, with a 35% strike rate here last season. They have three runners on the card today and the best of their chances looks to be (3) Parramatta on debut here. He ran 2nd in a jumpout on this track on August 6th, where he sat up on speed throughout and looked to have a bit more to offer. He’s drawn a bit tricky in barrier 9 but with even luck he looks the winner.
Ballarat Synthetic Race 7 (Market)
This looks a good race for (8) Piccatric. She won two starts ago on the synthetic at Pakeham over 1400m, before running 3rd at the same track over a mile. She was very strong through the line on that occasion and she steps up sharply to 2100m today which should suit her. She’s drawn well in barrier 2 and the stable have had four winners from nine runners at this track so far this season. Her biggest danger is (7) Gregorian Chant who just finds it impossible to win.
Grafton Race 1 (Market)
Taking a bit of a gamble here because we have two Matt Dunn runners at the top of the market, with (6) Uprise at $1.95 and (1) Helmet Head at $3.80. I’m going the way of Helmet Head to beat the odds-on favourite. Both horses are first up today and I think it’s notable that Matt McGuren takes the ride on Helmet Head as opposed to Uprise. He is clearly the stable’s number one rider – in the past 12 months he’s had 34 winners from 121 rides for Dunn, while Ben Looker who rides Uprising has had one winner from 11 rides. Uprise has also had 11 starts and is yet to break through, while Helmet Head has just had one start for an eye-catching 2nd placing. At the prices I’m going the way of Helmet Head, even though my concern is that 1100m could be a bit sharp.
