With the benefit of a recent prep race, even if it was a ninth-place finish, the 5-year-old gelding Cuban Granchico is well placed to win for the third time in his career in a seven-furlong handicap at Kembla Grange Racecourse in Australia on Monday evening.

A winner of 2 of 8 starts, Cuban Granchico returned from a five-month layoff to finish ninth by more than six lengths against a tougher group of handicap runners in a six-furlong race at Rosehill Gardens on Jan. 14 in a loss that can be forgiven considering the class level.

Pinky has been an unlucky filly in her last two starts. She may be able to reverse her luck at Muswellbrook Racecourse on Sunday evening.

Pinky raced in traffic in the final furlong and was fourth in a handicap at 6 3/4 furlongs at Wyong Racecourse on Dec. 24. She closed from well off the pace after a slow start and finished fifth in a handicap at 7 3/4 furlongs at Canterbury Park on Jan. 6.

Trained by Annabel Neasham, Pinky has had five starts, and she won against maidens at 6 1/2 furlongs at Scone on Dec. 9 in her third start.

Needs Sugar is the lone stakes winner and one of nine fillies in a field of 12 in the $104,100 Gold Sovereign Stakes for Southern Hemisphere 2-year-olds at six furlongs at Launceston Racecourse in Australia on Saturday evening.

Needs Sugar’s victory in the Elwick Stakes at 5 1/2 furlongs at Hobart Racecourse on Jan. 23 occurred in her fourth start, preceded by a fifth-place finish in a maiden race and two second-place finishes in allowance races. Those races were all from late November to early January.

Rose Quartz won four of her first seven starts, from April 2021 to last February. The jump to stakes-level competition has not been as easy.

Rose Quartz is winless in her last five starts, all listed and Group 3 races, but has been second or third in three of those races. Rose Quartz has been close enough at times to merit respect when she makes her second start of the year in the Group 3 Geoffrey Bellmaine Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs for fillies and mares at Sandown Racecourse in Melbourne on Friday evening.

SHA TIN SELECTIONS
(Sunday, February 05, 2023)

Algiers might have run the best race of his life winning the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1 going 1,600 meters on Jan. 6 at Meydan Racecourse. We shall see if he can run back to that peak going 1,900 meters in the Al Maktoum Challenge Round 2, the featured fifth race Friday at Meydan. 

A much-needed drop in class and a return to a race at 1 1/2 miles can end an eight-race losing streak for Oz Legend in a handicap on the infield Kensington course at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday evening.

Oz Legend has won 2 of 17 starts, but the wins were on synthetic tracks in Britain in 2020 and 2021. Sent to Australia in early 2022, Oz Legend has yet to win in eight starts in the country, all on turf. Oz Legend was a good second in a handicap at 1 1/2 miles at Rosehill Gardens on Sept. 10.

A handicap at 1 5/8 miles at Gosford Racecourse in Australia on Jan. 25 was probably too far for Celestial Fury. The gelding faded from contention in the stretch to finish fifth, beaten 2 1/4 lengths.

A handicap at 1 5/16 miles at Gosford on Wednesday evening should be a better distance. 

A drop in class and a return to a familiar venue has made Dynamic Impact an appealing favorite in a handicap at 6 1/4 furlongs at Canterbury Park in Australia on Tuesday evening.

Dynamic Impact is unbeaten in two starts at Canterbury, including a win in a handicap at six furlongs on Dec. 16 in which he closed from last in a field of six to win by slightly less than a half-length.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, February 01, 2023)