Australia: Make an Effort sharp for handicap at Moe Racecourse

The 6-year-old Australian mare Make an Effort has won 5 of 43 starts in her career and continues to show sharp form. She finished first and second in consecutive starts a week apart earlier this month.

Those results leave Make an Effort a leading candidate in a handicap at about 5 1/2 furlongs at Moe Racecourse on Monday evening, provided she can beat the upstart 3-year-old filly Soju Session.

Soju Session has had only five starts, winning her debut last March against Southern Hemisphere 2-year-olds. Soju Session has been beaten in her last four races, including a third in a stakes at five furlongs for horses bred in the state of Victoria in May.

Soju Session had one subsequent start, finishing eighth by 3 3/4 lengths in a five-furlong handicap at Mornington Racecourse in September in which she failed to play a meaningful role while racing on the rail in the stretch.

Make an Effort and Soju Session were 3-1 co-favorites in early betting Sunday in a full field of 10. The sprint handicap is part of an eight-race program that begins at 9:30 p.m. Eastern, or 6:30 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

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Make an Effort is arguably more attractive of the two. She won a five-furlong handicap at Mornington on Jan. 1 for trainer Craig Blackshaw. Make an Effort was transferred days later to current trainer Sharyn Trolove, who had the mare in her stable from the start of her career in 2019 until early November.

Make an Effort, who had four starts for Blackshaw, is winless in 11 career starts at Moe, but has finished second or third five times.

Moe is a friendly venue for Bush Christmas, who was 9-2 on Sunday.

Bush Christmas won a six-furlong handicap at Moe last February. This race at Moe will be the first start for Bush Christmas since an eighth-place finish in a field of nine in a tougher handicap division at Sandown Racecourse last March.