Australia: Mystic Mermaid a comer in handicap at Canterbury Park
With seven starts, Mystic Mermaid is relatively inexperienced compared to some of her competition in a handicap for fillies and mares at about a mile at Canterbury Park in Sydney on Wednesday.
Mystic Mermaid won her most recent outing, which came in a maiden race at a mile at Newcastle Racecourse on June 25, closing from third in a field of six to win by a nose as the 6-5 favorite.
At Canterbury Park, Mystic Mermaid will be closer to 7-2, judging from early betting on Monday. This is her second start against winners. She was beaten a nose in a one-mile handicap at Warwick Farms on June 13, losing to Rondino, who won a handicap last week at Warwick Farm.
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Mystic Mermaid has a slight advantage in the weights against her main rivals And We Danced and Icecrusher in the race at Canterbury Park. Mystic Mermaid will carry 125.6 pounds, compared to top weight of 132 for And We Danced and 130 for Icecrusher.
Icecrusher was allotted 134.4 pounds, but the booking of apprentice jockey Tyler Schiller reduces the weight.
A winner of 10 of 50 starts, Icecrusher is in sharp form, having won a handicap at 7 3/4 furlongs by a nose on the Kensington course at Royal Randwick Racecourse on July 20. The win ended a 10-race losing streak, since June 2021. She finished second five times in that span, beaten less than two lengths each time.
And We Danced, the 5-2 favorite in early betting, has one win in nine starts, but has faced tougher fields in her last three starts. Since returning from a layoff of nearly four months, she has finished second, third and fourth.
And We Danced was beaten 4 1/4 lengths in a handicap against males at Royal Randwick on July 9 after breaking from the rail in field of eight. A stalker, And We Dance is better drawn in post 4 in this field of nine and will be ridden by Hugh Bowman, who was aboard for the July 9 race.
Canterbury Park has a seven-race program, beginning at 9:50 p.m. Eastern or 6:50 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.