A very fast mid-section was set here with the leader Bullish Brother winning. This win rated like a C4 and considering Bullish Brother was duelling in front for a good portion of the race, there was a fair amount of merit to his win – it rated better than Blitzing on the same card. He might be able to go up in grade and prove competitive again and the form should work out well enough from this event.

The pace was solid and it was a good ride aboard the winner Jolly Convergence who had a dream run. Little Wise Man was a play and he was tremendous again, posting the best final-400m (22.82) at the entire meeting. He remains on our list and will be hard to beat when he next steps out given this was the best rating race on the card. There was vet issues with All Great Friends and Wah May Princess, while Nice Kick was caught wide without cover.

A good barrier made all the difference to Frustrated and this race rated pretty well for the grade. He should be competitive again in the class, while Travel Datuk continues to run on strongly, he posted the best-200m (11.12) at the meeting. The debutant Aiolos was heavily punted and not really sure why as his trials weren’t anything special – he failed to deliver on the night. 

The mid-sections of this event were fast and overall this race rated pretty well, almost four lengths inside the benchmark. Polymer Luck is well exposed but there was a lot of merit to his run considering he was the horse covering ground (four-wide without cover) when the pace was injected. With a softer run, he can go better next time. 

This race didn’t rate that well overall, but the winning performance of Cinquante Cinq was very good given a steady tempo and it was a nice ride from Matthew Chadwick. He stays in the class and will be hard to beat next time even with top-weight, providing he gets the pace to suit. Seize The Spirit showed improvement with the step up to a mile and might be one to keep an eye on in the future.

This race didn’t rate well for the class, the tempo was just even and they didn’t really sprint home quickly either. Both Handsome Boy and Bouyant Boy ran on well. The former was taken back from the wide gate and could possibly settle closer next time. However, I’m treating this race with caution.

This race was run with a brutal first half-mile, and the early pace told with the first three past the post settling midfield or worse (so it was a clear ‘forgive’ for Mighty Maverick). Kings Shield was quite brave considering he settled close enough to the pace and warrants respect when next racing in the short term.

The first two sectionals were solid and they were tiring late but overall the race rated more than a length outside of standard. All the same, it’s not easy to win on debut so it was a fair effort from Fat Turtle. Ballistic King (SID) was also making his debut, and delivered a very good run. He went via the carpark on the home turn and it was some effort in defeat. He was known as Wandering Eye in New Zealand and had form over 1400m.