January 28th

Flemington       

Race 1- Miss Finland. Firmed to run favourite in the betting ring. Miss Finland broke away from the challaenge of Tipungwuti to confirm her status as a Blue Diamond prospect. Good win as they broke 1.04 on a track that wasn't overly firm. Flame of Sydney may find it difficult to beat the good ones over the 1100m competed at today.

Race 2-  Leveller. Lead all the way to win easily without any serious threat or challenge. She did it at both ends as they only came home in 35.4. Perhaps this was her last chance to prove herself as she was being easily outgunned in previous encounters this time in. Nikolic is a master at turning or horses fortunes around and took full advantage here by running them ragged. Bonnelle raced very greenly again and can be forgotten for the time being. She may be more competitive at Caulfield on a firmer surface.

Race 3- Pompeii Ruler. Strong winner here as he made his own luck early in the straight. He raced away and managed to stave off the fast finishing Road to Athens with a distance to third. Very impressive considering the weight carried and the fast pace that was set. 

Race 4-  Road Worker. This three year old gelding practically lead all the way to hold Safari Sunbeam comfortably. Slow sectionals so treat form with trepidation

Race 5-  Isle of Majorca. Solid win here coming off a slow speed. Jukebox Johnny the favourite may be forgiven as he sweated up badly, but I would be more confident with backing him at the Sandown racecourse. Not much of a race.

Race 6-  The Lanz. Perhaps the first of a few shock wins. Revelled in the going out deep in the track to win quite comfortably. Live in Vain was good enough to suggest he can win again soon. Nikolic on Raid the Royals weaved a passage to eventually finish third but perhaps could have won the race. The equal favourite and class runner Niconero raced soft to reflect the support received in the betting ring as did Stratton Place. Perhaps the inside barrier brought about his downfall.

Race 7- Umaquest. Kept the roughie roll going with another strong win. Solid pace here soughted a few of these out and the fit Umaquest and Ra Sun capitalised on this. Forest Spy the favourite was game in defeat as he wandered off the track at the top of the straight and looked a little on the toe pre-race. A few shockers may pay to forgive in the future.

 Race 8- Belzain. Easy win here for Belzain as Iris in the Glen the hot favourite didn't fire a shot in the straight. Classic Pink the interstate visitor ran an honest race and Ali Alydar was good considering she wasn't able to get wound up early enough.

Race 9- It's Picnic. Good luck to those who found this winner. His form wasn't theat horrible but his odds were, so kudos to those who found it. The humidity looked to get to a number of these runners pre-race so may pay to forgive. Blue Collar Jack, Tuareg, True Courser and a few more come to mind.

Apologies for the ordinary tips later in the week, hopefully you got something out of Bangand and California Dane earlier in the week.
In other news
Frazzle Dazzle looked very good in winning in Sydney at Rosehill and can measure up too Stakes races.
Kaphero looked so good at Sandown mid-week in holding out Snort. This horse is a must follow. Jumlah was also quite impressive in winning the prelude for fillies.
California Dane won very good at Moonee Valley, with Virage De Fortune running a brilliant second first up in the Carlyon.