Austraila: Major Beel preps for Victorian Derby

Four races into his career, Major Beel has shown steady in improvement in Australia, enough to be considered for the Group 1 Victorian Derby at Flemington Racecourse on Oct. 29.

To get to that $1.34 million race, Major Beel needs a strong effort in the Victorian Derby Preview at 1 1/8 miles at Flemington on Saturday evening across American time zones.

Major Beel was favored in a field of 13 as of Friday, a reflection of his recent form, which includes a maiden race win in July and a second and third in handicaps against 3-year-olds in August and earlier this month.

Trained by the powerful stable of Adrian Bott and Gai Waterhouse, Major Beel will be ridden by Tim Clark, who was aboard for the maiden win in July and the second in the August handicap.

This will be Major Beel’s longest race.

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A majority of the runners in the Victorian Derby Preview are lightly raced but none as much as Muramasa, who won his debut in a maiden race at seven furlongs at Sale Racecourse on Sept. 1 and has his second start in this race. Similar to Major Beel, Muramasa races from off the pace.

Flemington has an eight-race program beginning at 11:30 p.m. Eastern or 8:30 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

Earlier on the program, the Kennedy Oaks Preview for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles will be run as a prep race for the Group 1 Kennedy Oaks at Flemington on Nov. 3.

The Kennedy Oaks Preview drew a field of 15 and will be limited to 13 runners.

Diamond Model is on the also-eligible list and was the 4-1 second choice as of Friday. She was ninth in her debut in April and returned to win her second start in a seven-furlong maiden race at Wodonga on Sept. 5.

If Diamond Model fails to draw into the field, there will be added support for So Dazzling, who was fifth in her lone start in a maiden race at Warwick Farm on Aug. 31, closing from last of 12 to miss by slightly less than two lengths.

So Dazzling was the 7-2 favorite as of Friday.