A two-race winning streak since late May from Ashford Street has led to the gelding’s stakes debut in Saturday’s Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia.
Ashford Street may need even better form to beat two group stakes runners in Oxley Road and Mileva, who are returning from layoffs in the $136,700 Monash Stakes, run at 5 1/2 furlongs.
Inspiral, brilliant winner of the Group 1 Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot in her 3-year-old debut, is an odds-on favorite to defeat older rivals in the Group 1 Falmouth Stakes on Friday at Newmarket Racecourse in England.
A bad start and a wide trip led to an 11th-place finish in a field of 16 for Palladas as the 5-1 favorite in the Eye Liner Stakes at Ipswich Racecourse in Australia on June 18.
The loss has led to a jockey change for Friday’s Newmarket Handicap at Rockhampton Racecourse and apparently a fair measure of forgiveness from future-book bettors. As of Wednesday, Palladas was the 3-1 favorite in a field of 13 for the Newmarket Handicap, run at 6 3/4 furlongs.
Flash Flood is not only of the favorites to win a handicap at 6 1/4 furlongs at Canterbury Park in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, he may be the hunch play of the season.
The areas around Sydney have been inundated with rain in recent weeks, so much so that evacuations have taken place for thousands of area residents.
The Canterbury Park program was relocated from Warwick Farm Racecourse in recent days after Warwick Farm received more than 11 inches of rain in a seven-day period ending Tuesday.
Paul Lally:
R1 1-10-5-6
R2 7-2-5-3
R3 6-9-1-8
R4 2-4-11-9
R5 7-3-11-10
R6 4-8-3-2
R7 2-4-8-6
R8 4-7-1-2
R9 2-1-8-12
Best Bet: R8 N4 Rising From Ashes
Longshot: R9 N2 Handsome Bobo
Play: R9 QQP 1-2-8
Tom Wood:
R1: 1-5-10-12
R2: 7-3-1-5
R3: 6-1-8-9
R4: 4-6-11-2
R5: 3-11-7-6
R6: 6-2-4-7
R7: 4-2-1-8
R8: 7-4-1-6
R9: 1-5-12-2
Stoltz carried top weight of 133 pounds to victory winning a Class 3 handicap over 1,000 meters in February at Happy Valley Racecourse in Hong Kong, and on Wednesday, if he’s to win a Class 2 handicap over the same trip, it will be under a mighty 135-pound impost.
Stoltz is one of a dozen entrants in the featured ninth race Wednesday at Happy Valley, a 1,000-meter dash for horses rated 95-75 that closes a card beginning at 6:45 a.m. Eastern. You can catch all the Hong Kong action at DRFBets.com.
Wahine Toa did not have a 2021 season.
She finished fourth in November 2020 and did not race again until May of this year when she was 12th of 15 in a handicap at Warrnambool Racecourse. After a more encouraging fourth by a length on June 13, Wahine Toa looks capable of winning for the second time in her career in a handicap for fillies and mares at Sandown Racecourse in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Trained by Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, Wahine Toa is winless in seven starts since winning a maiden race at 1 3/8 miles at Sale Racecourse on March 29, 2020.
The last time the Australian gelding Last Quest ran a distance anywhere near 1 5/16 miles, he was beaten a head when third in a handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Moruya Racecourse on June 21.
The race may have only been two weeks ago, but Last Quest is having a busy mid-year span in Australia. Last Quest finished second by a head in a handicap at a mile at Moruya on Friday and starts in a handicap at 1 5/16 miles at Goulburn Racecourse on Tuesday.
