Australia: Versatile Smart Image primed for Newmarket Handicap
Smart Image has compiled an impressive record of six wins in seven starts against lower-level competition in Australia, since he was transferred to trainers Trevor and Peter Rowe late last year.
The string of appearances in modest races ends to an extent when, Smart Image runs in the Newmarket Handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs at Mackay Racecourse in the far northeast of the country Thursday evening.
While the Newmarket Handicap is a jump in class level from recent races for Smart Image, the quality of the race is far from a sprint handicap at metropolitan tracks in Melbourne or Sydney, or even Brisbane, several hundred miles south of Mackay.
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Smart Image’s recent streak of success includes wins at distances ranging from 4 3/4 furlongs to 6 1/2 furlongs. Smart Image has won by leading throughout and by closing from off the pace. His only defeat since last September was a second by a head in a five-furlong handicap May 5 at Townsville.
In the Newmarket Handicap, Smart Image will break from an outside post in a field limited to 14 runners. Jockey Lacey Morrison, who was aboard Smart Image for four consecutive wins from mid-November to early January, has the mount.
The 7-year-old gelding Bollente is Smart Image’s principal rival. A winner of 15 of 42 starts, Bollente has finished fourth in two sprint handicap at Rockhampton Racecourse June 23 and July 7, his only races following a 13-month layoff.
The Newmarket Handicap represents a class drop for Isis Carmella, a 4-year-old filly who has won 11 of 25 starts. Isis Carmella was second by a length in a restricted stakes at six furlongs at Eagle Farm Racecourse on June 24.
The Newmarket Handicap is part of an eight-race program that begins at 10:41 p.m. Eastern or 7:41 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com
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