Grey Whisper nearly pulled an upset at 150-1 when she finished fifth in her debut at Wangaratta Racecourse in Australia in June. Showing inexperience, Grey Whisper raced erratically early in the race at 6 1/2 furlongs and was checked in the stretch. She was beaten slightly less than 1 1/2 lengths.

Grey Whisper won her second start at Wangaratta in a maiden race at about six furlongs on Nov. 16, but this time was the 5-2 favorite. She will be a slightly higher price in her debut against winners in a handicap at 6 1/2 furlongs at Wangaratta on Thursday.

Paul Lally:

R1 7-3-5-4
R2 3-4-5-1
R3 7-2-1-5
R4 3-7-8-2
R5 1-9-3-8
R6 9-5-1-4
R7 8-6-4-1
R8 1-6-3-11
R9 4-5-11-1

Best Bet R3 N7 Smart Idea
Longshot R8 N1 Xiang Bai QI
Play R8 QQP 1-3-6

Andrew Le Jeune:

R1: 6-4-7-3
R2: 3-9-1-6
R3: 5-1-2-12
R4: 5-4-2-8
R5: 8-2-3-1
R6: 9-5-1-7
R7: 1-8-6-4
R8: 3-6-5-1
R9: 3-2-5-4

Best: R9 N3 Family Folks
Each/way: R3 N5 Master Aqua
Play: R3 Q/QP 1-2-5

Take a straw poll of Hong Kong racing people and John Size probably would come up as the best trainer on the circuit. Calculating, measured, and patient, Size, an Australian export, for years has churned out a steady stream of winners, and after a sluggish start to the 2021-22 Hong Kong season his stable is rolling again.

Last December, Ballistic Boy won the Doomben Mile Stakes at Doomben Racecourse in Australia as the 6-5 favorite for his second stakes win.

Ballistic Boy was beaten in his first six appearances at Doomben Racecourse prior to the Doomben Mile, but has taken a fancy to the course in the last year. In August and September, Ballistic Boy won consecutive starts at Doomben in lucrative handicaps, leading to a start in Wednesday’s $92,650 Tattersall’s Recognition Stakes at 6 3/4 furlongs at the same track.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, December 01, 2021)

Contrail, Japan’s champion 3-year-old male of 2020, reversed a three-race losing streak with a two-length win in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japan Cup, his final start before retirement to stud.

Contrail ($3.90 in American pools) closed from the middle of the field of 18 to take the lead in the final sixteenth and win comfortably over 8-1 Authority. Shahryar, who won the Grade 1 Japanese Derby in May, finished third at 5-1.

Broome and Japan, who were second and fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar on Nov. 6, finished 11th and eighth for Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien.

A recent win and a favorable weight assignment could give Hardyo an advantage in a one-mile handicap at Tamworth Racecourse in Australia on Tuesday.

Trained by Jane Clement, Hardyo has won 5 of 39 starts, with two of the wins coming in the 6-year-old gelding’s last four starts.  Hardyo won a seven-furlong handicap at Inverell on Oct. 16 and followed with a second at Moree on Oct. 29 and a seventh in a field of 13 at Armidale on Nov. 7.

The 6-year-old Australian mare Trescha is showing signs of a career revival despite a 12-race losing streak.

Trescha, winner of three of 29 starts, has not won since July 2020, but ran well enough in a recent start at Port Macquarie to suggest she can be a factor in a handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Taree Racecourse on Monday.

Trained by Tracey Bartley, Trescha was second by a little more than 2 1/4 lengths in a handicap at 7 1/2 furlongs at Port Macquarie on Nov. 11.

Paul Lally:

R1 10-3-2-8
R2 9-1-12-10
R3 2-5-4-3
R4 1-3-5-4
R5 2-5-1-3
R6 2-9-7-3
R7 6-4-11-5
R8 6-11-9-12
R9 1-8-9-10
R10 3-8-6-1

Best Bet R8 N6 Super Ten
Longshot R1 N10 Gorgeous Vitality
Play Race8 QQP 6-9-11

Tom Wood:

R1: 8-3-13-10
R2: 9-10-1-12
R3: 5-2-8-6
R4: 7-2-3-9
R5: 5-2-3-1
R6: 2-7-3-9
R7: 6-4-8-5
R8: 9-6-11-1
R9: 2-1-5-9
R10: 3-8-6-7

Between wins in hurdle races in Australia in May and July, the 6-year-old gelding Wil John was redirected to a flat handicap at 2 1/4 miles at Bendigo Racecourse in June, a race he won comfortably.

The victory gave Wil John sufficient qualifying points to start in Sunday’s $216,660 Jericho Cup for Australian and New Zealand-bred horses at 2 7/8 miles at Warrnambool Racecourse, west of Melbourne.

The Jericho Cup is the longest flat race in Australia and was launched in 2018, quickly becoming a destination for stayers on the Southern Hemisphere spring schedule.