Tips and race-by-race guide for Gunnedah on Monday
1. Musumeci is an emerging three-year-old by Capitalist which made up good late ground from near last on debut in a better maiden at Tamworth. With that experience over more ground and on a track that will be either close to on back to good, he gets his chance to break through. 4. Yanabah is well suited second-up after closing off OK in that same race as the top selection. 3. Takeover Lad is bursting to break through deep into the prep and has been freshened since running home late into a place as an odd-on favourite. Has been in the money seven times from 11 starts. Watch the betting on 8. Stolen Summer, a filly by The Autumn Sun on debut for the Paul Messara-Leah Gavranich stable from the inside draw behind two quiet trials. 2. Star Of Salisbury has been only fair behind the placegetters in two runs this prep, but can run into the minor money.
How to play it: Musumeci to win.
Race 2
3. Jonny Be Swift is well placed to finally crack it for a third career win back from tougher provincial company and with a couple of rivals being preferred at Sunday's Dubbo meeting. Kept chasing behind a smart one in heavy ground two starts ago before holding his ground in a much tougher BM 64 at Wyong after being well supported at each way odds. Draws to get a cheap run just off the speed. 2. Descending Mist is a tough improver which will relish coming back from a stronger race deep into the prep. Swept home to win a similar race at Armidale two starts back before outclassed in a BM 85 at Tamworth. 1. Cascade Mountain is ultra-consistent, having won his last two as a short-priced favourite. More depth here though, and has to get in from a trickier draw. 4. Nature Boy, a last-start all-the-way winner in deeper grade, is well in the mix again; while 8. Tycoon Lad, back out in trip from a soft draw, goes in trifecta and first-four plays.
How to play it: Jonny Be Swift to win.
Race 3
10. Silverturn is a lightly raced filly which can claim a tricky maiden at only her second start. Was disappointing on debut at Armidale as a hot favourite coming off two progressive trials, although was never suited in the run on a soft 7, and is much better placed here on firmer footing. 2. Eclater, a Pierata three-year-old on debut in blinkers for the Greg Hickman stable at Warwick Farm off two quiet trials, can make a statement. 5. Sizzling Boy can run into the money dropping back from steeper provincial company third-up. Big watch on 12. Miss Arisa, a two-year-old filly by Headwater on debut for the John Ramsey yard at Muswellbrook, which starts behind a dominant trial win in soft ground and was scratched from Dubbo on Sunday to be saved for this. 1. Crusader Razor is a market watch resuming off a long break and having his first run for the new Wyong stable since transferring down from the Chris Waller base in Qld.
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Sydney Morning Herald
12 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Ryan keen for Dumpling to steam forward again and show stakes class
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The Age
12 hours ago
- The Age
Ryan keen for Dumpling to steam forward again and show stakes class
Ryan hoped to test the waters again. 'We always thought she had stakes ability and that's why she had runs in some of those races,' he said. 'With her pedigree and what she's shown, we'd like to chase a bit of black type with her, so we'll just progress and see how she goes on Saturday. 'We've got to get her rating up a bit so we can get her into those races. She's certainly got the ability and is capable of winning one. It will be 1100 or whether you go to 1400 with her. We'll just let her tell the tale on Saturday.' Ryan has Green Shadows ($7.50) in the fifth, a benchmark 88 over 1600m. Green Shadows was fifth in the same grade over 1400m at Randwick last start and is chasing a first win in 11 months. 'The other day he got squeezed out of the gate and he was one pair further back than you would like to be, but he finished the race all right,' Ryan said. Silentsar ($14) and High Blue Sea ($19) are in the seventh, a benchmark 78 over 1300m. Loading 'It's a tough race and he's up in class, but he does drop six kilos,' he said of Silentsar. 'The other horse just needs firm ground, and he probably needed the run the other day. He loomed to win about the 300m mark and just ran out of puff, and he's improved off it.' Ryan, meanwhile, was looking to the spring with confidence about his strong crop of two-year-olds from this season. King Of Pop and Skyhook won their way into the Golden Slipper, while Blitzburg claimed the Canonbury Stakes and Grand Eagle peeled off two wins. 'I'm quite excited about King Of Pop, Skyhook, Sanctified and Grand Eagle,' he said. 'They appear to be coming up quite well. They had a jump-out on Tuesday morning and went really well on the course proper. 'Blitzburg will run in the Rosebud. King Of Pop in the San Domenico, Skyhook the Rosebud or San Domenico. All trial next Tuesday at Rosehill. Grand Eagle is a fortnight behind them so he'll probably go to a benchmark race before heading to something better.' Hoysted hopes filly can deliver breakthrough Sydney win Eagle Farm trainer Matt Hoysted hopes the trip to Randwick this week can be the making of promising filly Break Free, and give him a first NSW city winner in the process. Hoysted, about to enter his second season as a solo trainer, is sending Break Free and Termagant to Randwick after last-start efforts at Eagle Farm on June 28, and it will be the first Sydney runs for the Proven Thoroughbreds pair. Break Free, a three-year-old Capitalist filly, has won three of her five starts and finished second last time out. Her other run was an 11th when stepping up to the group 3 Vo Rogue Plate (1300m). She faces another test on Saturday in the ninth, a benchmark 72 handicap for three- and four-year-olds over 1100m. Hoysted rued a poor draw in 17 but was keen for Break Free to gain valuable experience on the road ahead of more campaigns at stakes grade. Andrew Adkins has the ride on the $10 Sportsbet hope. 'It's really good prizemoney and there's obviously not a great deal for her up here now that we're outside of carnival,' Hoysted said of bringing Break Free south. 'She's a promising filly who still just hasn't quite really put it all together yet. 'She had that race parcelled up at Eagle Farm last start and then had a wander and a bit of a look around late, and that probably cost her. She just got nabbed in the last couple of strides, so coming back 100 metres in trip, we want to ride her a touch quieter, and with something to chase, she can be that bit more dynamic. 'She's a filly who's always had nice natural ability and we've had a high opinion of her, and now we're at that stage where she's really honing her skills, we thought the trip away would do her the world of good. I just wish we could have drawn a bit softer. 'This preparation was all about get her rating up while she's still honing her craft, then maybe in another prep's time, if she keeps progressing, she can aim up into some better races.' Hoysted hopes for softer ground for four-year-old Deep Field mare Termagant, which races in the eighth, an 1100m benchmark 88 handicap. She is also third-up but is coming off a failure at home, when eighth in a 1200m benchmark 85. Dylan Gibbons rides the $23 chance from gate 12. Randwick was a soft 6 with the chance of rain on Saturday. 'She was obviously pretty disappointing last start at Eagle Farm,' Hoysted said. 'She nearly jumped favourite that day and she copped a rock-hard track, which we know she doesn't appreciate. She didn't let go at all on that. 'Last prep she was putting it all together, and we think she's one that's still on an upwards trajectory. Maybe down there we'll get a bit more juice in the track, and the big, open spaces of Randwick will suit her.'

News.com.au
07-07-2025
- News.com.au
Muswellbrook, Goulburn Tuesday preview: Winx and you'll miss it
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'He was probably a little bit on the fat side first-up but still found the line. 'The 1400m will suit him, it's just if he gets the right run.' Both Bellerata and Tanglewood Jimmy will be steered on Tuesday by Wilkes' talented apprentice jockey/daughter Shae, whose tally of winners has reached 60 in quick time, with 23 of those wins are shared with her father. Trainer Wilkes' third and final runner on the Muswellbrook card today is Sheila's Fanta Sea who boasts a tidy CV of two wins, three seconds and two thirds. Sheila's Fanta Sea will no doubt find Tuesday's assignment decidedly easier than her last start when pitched against all-comers from around the state in a 1200m Class 3 TAB Highway at Royal Randwick. 'She just goes up a little bit in weight but she comes back to the country,'' Wilkes said. 'I nominated her for Scone as well on Friday and this is quite a tough race but I don't expect Scone to be much easier. 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A daughter of Exosphere, Pretty Vegas made her way to Cleary's Queanbeyan HQ from Harvey's Baramul Stud in the Hunter Valley via Adelaide when offered at the 2021 Magic Millions. 'She is super consistent,'' Cleary said. 'I just thought I would stay away from Saturday's Highway and try and find her a confidence booster and I think I've found the right race for her on Tuesday. ' Keagan (Latham) seems to ride her really well, they seem to have clicked, and she carries weight okay. 'An outside barrier won't be a hindrance with the way the track is going to play, so it is probably a bonus drawn out to be honest, and she has trained on well since her good effort in the Highway (June 21). The Canberra Raiders tragic will also saddle-up stablemates Pick A Symphony and Crazy Atom. 'Pick A Symphony has still got his L-Plates but he is going to be a nice horse,'' Cleary said. 'Crazy Atom is screaming out of a bit of a journey and a bit of juice in the track and she is going to get both.'