Australia: Smooth Esprit could have easy run in Sunday handicap

Smooth Esprit nearly scored a 40-1 upset in a handicap at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, on June 10, and will have an easier assignment in a one-mile handicap at Dubbo Racecourse on Sunday evening.

The race could be even more straightforward for Smooth Esprit, depending on whether the 4-year-old filly Amarantz starts.

Amarantz was entered in a handicap at Narrandera on Saturday evening. If she scratches from the race at Dubbo, Smooth Esprit will be an odds-on favorite in a field of 11.

Trained by Clint Lundholm, who is based at Dubbo, Smooth Esprit has won 3 of 23 starts. A 6-year-old gelding, Smooth Esprit has won at distances ranging from 7 1/2 furlongs to a mile, but is winless in eight starts since a lucrative handicap at 7 1/2 furlongs at Rosehill Gardens last September.

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In the June 10 race at Randwick, Smooth Esprit broke slowly and closed from 10th in a field of 14 to miss winning the race at 7 1/2 furlongs by a length. In April, Smooth Esprit finished 11th of 16 in the $336,400 Country Championship Stakes at Randwick, a race restricted to horses based with trainers in the New South Wales countryside.

The race at Dubbo is against a less-accomplished group.

Amarantz won as recently as February, but has finished sixth and 10th in big fields since returning from a layoff of more than three months in late May. The race at Dubbo represents a class drop for Amarantz, who can be a factor from off the pace.

Amarantz and Smooth Esprit will be in pursuit of The Mediator, a 5-year-old gelding who has won two of his last three starts, including a handicap for males at 6 1/2 furlongs at Dubbo on June 9. The Mediator is winless in seven career starts at a mile, but did win at 7 1/2 furlongs earlier in his career.

Dubbo has a nine-race program beginning at 9:45 p.m. Eastern or 6:45 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

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