The first of the Group 1 races at Randwick on Saturday is the Australian Oaks (Race 6).
Having claimed the Derby with Jon Snow, the Kiwi training partnership of Baker & Forsman will attempt a sweep of the three-year-old staying events with their highly rated filly Bonneval.
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While this race represents her first Australian start, she’s proven at the 2400m having followed a similar path into the race as last year’s winner Sofia Rosa, fighting off fellow contender Devise to win the NZ Oaks at Trentham recently.
With top local jockey Hugh Bowman booked for the ride, the stable have reason to be confident, although Baker cautioned that he was unsure how she would cope with the expected heavy conditions.
Our traders are expecting a stiff challenge to come from David Brideoake’s Nurse Kitchen, who was pretty unlucky not to land the Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill last time out.
Running into dead-ends along the rails, Blake Shinn hooked her to the outside halfway down the straight and she really hit top gear in the final 150m to narrowly miss gunning down Montoya’s Secret.
Of the others, Lasqueti Spirit and Harlow Gold ran the quinella in the Crown Oaks last spring and arrive with genuine claims.
The former, especially, should appreciate racing back against her own age group after running into the likes of Winx and Jameka of late.
Harlow Gold has been competitive in both the Australian Guineas and Vinery but is a bit of a ‘non-winner’ for ours and we’re happy to accommodate punters keen to back her.
The best of the outsiders is probably Waking Moment, who found a second wind at the 100m mark to get up and nab Perfect Rhyme in the last bound of the Adrian Knox Stakes last week.
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Tips:
- Bonneval
- Nurse Kitchen
- Harlow Gold
- Lasqueti Spirit
