Australia: Stella Glow early favorite at Hawkesbury as she shoots for third straight win

Three days after she was withdrawn from a turf marathon at Scone Racecourse in Australia, the 3-year-old filly Stella Glow is entered in a slightly shorter race at Hawkesbury Racecourse outside of Sydney on Thursday.

The Scone race was run at 1 3/8 miles, while the race at Hawkesbury is 1 5/16 miles.

Stella Glow was the early favorite at Scone before she was withdrawn, and is the 2-1 favorite in early betting at Hawkesbury on the strength of consecutive wins earlier this month at Newcastle Racecourse - a maiden race at about 1 1/8 miles on June 1 and a handicap at 1 3/16 miles on June 20.

The race at Hawkesbury will be the longest start for Stella Glow, a winner of 2 of 7 starts for trainer Scott Singleton. Stella Glow will be ridden by Mitchell Bell, who was aboard for the win on June 1. Bell is likely to have Stella Glow racing from off the pace in a field of eight.

Stella Glow will start in the first of eight races on a program that begins at 10:15 p.m. Eastern or 7:15 p.m. Pacific on Wednesday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

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Stella Glow is a narrow choice over the capable gelding Vyner, who finished second in 1 1/4-mile races in his last two starts – missing by about three-quarters of a length in a handicap at Wyong Racecourse on June 2 and by a neck in a handicap at Goulburn on June 17. In both races, Vyner was near the front throughout.

The distance should work for Our Bambino, who won a handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Kembla Grange on June 18 for his fifth win in his 28th start. Our Bambino was fourth in a handicap at 1 5/16 miles at Hawkesbury on soft turf on May 19, and won on good turf at Kembla Grange. The forecast at Hawkesbury is for good turf.