Australia: Fillies strongly bet over males in Gosford handicap

The fillies Lady Gold, Mischievous Molly, and Miss Shalaa will dominate the betting against two other fillies and mares and four geldings in a one-mile handicap at Gosford Racecourse in Australia on Wednesday evening.

As of Tuesday, Mischievous Molly was the early 3-1 favorite, a narrow choice over Lady Gold and Miss Shalaa at 7-2.

Miss Shalaa has the most recent win of the trio, a maiden race at seven furlongs in her 2023 debut at Taree Racecourse on June 6 in her seventh start.

Trained by Jason Deamer, Miss Shalaa runs from a stalking position and has a friendly weight assignment of 121 pounds compared to 125.6 for Mischievous Molly and 124.5 for Lady Gold.

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The 4-year-old gelding Highness, an import from France, will carry top weight of 130 pounds in his Australian debut.

Miss Shalaa will be ridden for the first time by Tim Clark. Aaron Bullock, the previous rider of Miss Shalaa, does not have a mount, but does have three rides on the Gosford program.

Mischievous Molly and Lady Gold have styles similar to Miss Shalaa.

Mischievous Molly has nearly won her last two races, both at 7 1/2 furlongs at Port Macquarie. She beat maidens in her fifth career start on May 16, and closed from fifth in a field of 12 to miss by a nose in a handicap on May 29.

Lady Gold won her seventh career start in a maiden race at 7 1/2 furlongs at Hawkesbury Racecourse on May 18, but was eighth of 12 in a tougher, and very lucrative, handicap at 1 1/8 miles at Rosehill Gardens on June 3. Lady Gold was fourth early at Rosehill Gardens before fading to finish six lengths behind winner Grebeni, who followed that race with his third consecutive win on Saturday.

Highness won his debut in a maiden race at 1 1/2 miles on turf at Nantes, France, last September, but was sixth of seven in an allowance race on the synthetic track at Lyon last October.

Now trained by Bjorn Baker, Highness has finished sixth and seventh in two schooling races from the gate at distances of five and six furlongs this month in Australia.

Highness was 6-1 in early betting on Tuesday, a suggestion he may need a start to acclimate to Australian racing.

Gosford has an eight-race program beginning at 10:10 p.m. Eastern or 7:10 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

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