There was little wrong with the runner-up finish by Dio D’Oro in a handicap on April 8 at Warwick Farm Racecourse in Sydney, Australia.

Dio D’Oro was 40-1 and finished second by a neck to 5-2 favorite Royal Celebration in a one-mile race.

Wednesday, bettors may easily focus on Dio D’Oro in the Vale Might and Power Handicap at 7 3/4 furlongs on the Kensington course at Royal Randwick. Randwick holds many of Australia’s leading races, such as four Group 1 races last Saturday. The Kensington course is the track’s inner-most turf course.

HAPPY VALLEY SELECTIONS
(Wednesday, April 15, 2020)

Saudi Arabia’s racing authority announced Monday it is withholding the distribution of the purse from the $20 million Saudi Cup due to the indictment of the trainer of the winning horse on charges related to administering illegal substances to horses.

The Jockey Club of Saudi Arabia said that it would not distribute the purse payments until its own investigation is concluded, and that it would have no further statement until the probe is wrapped up.

Eight races into his career, True Marvel won for the first time in a maiden race on March 23 at Goulborn Racecourse in Australia.

The breakthrough may have come at a favorable time. True Marvel is the only runner in a field of eight in Tuesday’s first race at Newcastle Racecourse with a victory in their last start. Four of the runners were third in their last outing.

The first race, a handicap at 1 7/16 miles, is part of a seven-race program that begins at 10:45 p.m. Eastern on Monday, or 7:45 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

Daring Tact rallied from the back of a field of 18 3-year-old fillies to win her graded stakes debut in Sunday’s Grade 1 Japanese 1000 Guineas at Hanshin Racecourse.

The win extended Daring Tact’s unbeaten streak to three races.

Ridden by Kohei Matsuyama, Daring Tact, who paid $10 in North American pools, finished 1 1/4 lengths in front of 5-2 favorite Resistencia, the champion 2-year-old filly of 2019 in Japan. Daring Tact made a wide move on the right-handed course to catch Resistencia in the final sixteenth.

There are several appealing Southern Hemisphere 2-year-olds in the Easter Monday Handicap at Warwick Farm Racecourse in Sydney, Australia, and the presence of a very promising rider in the country on a short-term basis.

Tom Marquand, a 22-year-old Englishman, rode two winners at the all-stakes program at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney on Saturday. Marquand has been based in Australia for the last month and rode there for a few weeks in early February. Marquand had won 10 races from 50 mounts in Australia from Feb. 12 through Saturday.

Tom Wood:

R1:      4 – 5 – 6 – 3

R2:      12 – 9 – 2 – 6

R3:      1 – 3 – 4 – 9

R4:      8 – 2 – 4 – 11
R5:      12 – 5 – 3 – 10

R6:      5 – 4 – 1 – 9

R7:      7 – 3 – 8 – 10

R8:      10 – 4 – 8 – 6

R9:      1 – 12 – 2 – 7

R10:    13 – 11 – 5 – 2

R11:    1 – 8 – 11 – 3

BEST:     R11 – 1 BEAUTY LEGACY (WIN)

VALUE:  R4 – 8 GOLDEN LINK (EW)

PLAY:     R11 – QQP 1,8,11

Paul Lally:

Race1 4-6-5-3

Race2 1-8-10-13

Race3 3-1-5-4

Race4  4-2-1-7

Con Te Partiro, a stakes winner at Saratoga and Royal Ascot in 2016 and 2017 for trainer Wesley Ward, won her third stakes in Australia on Saturday in the Group 1 Legacy Stakes for fillies and mares at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Sydney.

For his first start in nearly five months, the gelding Rapido Chaparro will start in his shortest race since June in Sunday’s $42,800 Moruya Cup at about seven furlongs.

What Rapido Chaparro accomplished in longer sprints earlier in his career, and his form last September and October, suggests he has every chance to begin 2020 with a win on Sunday.

The $42,800 Moruya Cup is the richest of eight races at Moruya Racecourse, a coastal track a few hours south of Sydney.

The draw for Sunday’s Grade 1 Japanese 1000 Guineas at Hanshin Racecourse was not kind to Resistencia, the country’s champion 2-year-old filly of 2019.