Australia: Turk Warrior goes a little longer in Tasmanian Guineas

Turk Warrior is undefeated in all eight of his career starts on the Australian island of Tasmania, which is why he was 3-5 in early betting for Friday’s $90,775 Tasmanian Guineas at Hobart Racecourse.

Since his career debut in November 2020, Turk Warrior has won at distances ranging from five to seven furlongs, making the one-mile Tasmanian Guineas a slight change for a gelding that tends to run near the front.

Trained by Glenn Stevenson, Turk Warrior won two starts at Launceston in December following a seven-month layoff – a six-furlong race for Southern Hemisphere 3-year-olds on Dec. 1 and a seven-furlong race on Dec. 15. In both wins, Turk Warrior led throughout and finished three-quarters of a length in front of Alpine Wolf, who is entered in the Tasmanian Guineas and appeared to pose the greatest threat to the favorite.

Alpine Wolf has won 2 of 4 starts and runs from off the pace. The additional distance of the Tasmanian Guineas should not be an issue for Alpine Wolf since the gelding finished with interest in his two recent losses to Turk Warrior, their only meetings.

The Tasmanian Guineas drew a field of nine, but Turk Warrior and Alpine Wolf will dominate the betting.

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Hobart has a nine-race program beginning at 9:42 p.m. Eastern, or 6:42 p.m. Pacific, on Thursday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

The Tasmanian Guineas is the first of two stakes on the program. The $90,775 Tasmanian Stakes at a mile for older horses drew a field of nine led by The Inevitable, a 6-year-old gelding who won the 2019 Tasmanian Guineas.

At the time, The Inevitable had won three of his first four starts and won the Tasmanian Guineas as an odds-on favorite. Since then, The Inevitable has won group-level stakes at tougher tracks in Melbourne and Sydney.

Since late August, The Inevitable has raced at Tasmanian tracks, including a win in the Conquering Stakes at seven furlongs on Dec. 15 at Hobart in a prep for the Tasmanian Stakes.

The Inevitable, who runs from off the pace, was the 6-5 favorite on Wednesday in early betting for the Tasmanian Stakes. Dark Wanderer and Mandela Effect, third and fourth in the Conquering Stakes, are part of the Tasmanian Stakes.

Mandela Effect was second in the Tasmanian Stakes in 2020 and 2021, and has every chance to play a role in the outcome this year.