Australia: Green Flash reunited with McDonald in handicap

Green Flash will be reunited with a familiar jockey when the 4-year-old gelding has his third start of the year in a handicap at 7 3/4 furlongs on the infield Kensington course at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, on Wednesday.

Green Flash has won 2 of 11 starts and won his debut when ridden by James McDonald in March 2021. McDonald later rode Green Flash to a fourth- and second-place finish in 2021 and regains the mount for this race.

Green Flash is trained by Chris Waller, who does well with McDonald. They teamed to win the Melbourne Cup last November with the popular mare Verry Elleegant.

McDonald, 30, is booked to ride five of the seven races on the Kensington card, his first mounts since a successful trip to England for the Royal Ascot meeting last month. Waller and McDonald won the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes with Nature Strip on June 14 at Royal Ascot.

At Kensington, Green Flash is part of a field of 11 in the fifth race on a program that begins at 10:50 p.m. Eastern, or 7:50 p.m. Pacific, on Tuesday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

:: Get free past performances, analysis, and picks for Australian racing

Green Flash is winless in his last five starts, since a handicap at 7 3/4 furlongs at Canterbury Park last October. Green Flash was given three more starts in the final months of 2021 before he was rested in the first four months of this year.

On May 4, Green Flash was sixth by slightly more than 4 1/2 lengths in a six-furlong handicap at Canterbury before finishing a much brighter second by 2 1/4 lengths in a handicap at 7 1/2 furlongs at Ballarat on May 29.

At Kensington, Green Flash is expected to race from off the pace and will be joined in that position by Casino Kid, a winner of 4 of 25 starts with strong credentials.

Casino Kid won a handicap at 1 1/8 miles at Rosehill Gardens in January in his first start of 2022 and lost his next two starts before he was rested for five months.

Trained by Jan Bowen, Casino Kid was given a five-month break before he finished fourth of eight in a handicap at 5 1/2 furlongs at Randwick on July 9, a distance shorter than his preferred trip in recent wins.