Overview
Dela Bella is the best bet of the day. She has run second, second and third in her last three starts, all inside the last three months, and she is $4 with Palmerbet for the 2:30PM maiden at Wangaratta. She replaces Rock About, who has been scratched.
Three selections from two meetings, Wangaratta and Queanbeyan. Prices were open for the early races at both tracks when this was written, so the best bet and the value bet are priced. The quaddie angle comes from Queanbeyan, where the markets for the back half of the card had not opened yet.
The best bet
Dela Bella, Wangaratta Race 4, 2:30, 4.00 with Palmerbet.
Dela Bella takes the slot after Rock About was scratched from Race 3. Her last three runs read second, second, third, all inside the last three months, and no maiden in her field has placed more often lately. R J Hurdle rides from barrier 4 over 1739m, a gate that should let her settle handy and hold her spot when the speed comes back.
The danger is Volestain, who heads the market at $3.10. He has run fifth and seventh in two starts, so the price leans on the McEvoy stable, which has won with three of its six Wangaratta runners. If the stable has found the key to him, he beats her. Fiorente Charm, the Payne and Egan debutant, is the other one to respect.
The value bet
Hold This, Wangaratta Race 5, 3:00, 12.00 with Neds.
Hold This has finished in the first three in three of his four runs over the last three months. He keeps finding one or two better, which is why he is still a maiden, but over 2187m from barrier 1 he gets every chance to settle on the fence and save ground.
Circus Moon is the reason for the price. The three-year-old is the $2.90 favourite for M M Laurie, a stable that has won with two of its four Wangaratta runners, and he has placed twice in his last four. If he runs to that, Hold This is racing for second. That is why this is an each-way bet, and at double figures the place return alone makes it worthwhile.
The quaddie angle
Pearler, Queanbeyan Race 4, 3:20.
Pearler is two from two at Queanbeyan and won at his last start. In the last three months he has won twice from six runs, and his trainer G R Nickson has sent three runners to this track for two winners. The Bungendore Benchmark 58 opens the Queanbeyan quaddie, and he is the horse to anchor it.
Take The Chance is the danger after a win two starts back and a third last time, with Amy McLucas, who has won four of 19 rides here. Big Time Charlie won three in a row before running ninth at his latest start. Pearler‘s market had not opened when this was written.
How these were picked
The three selections come from the full previews for Wangaratta, Queanbeyan and Beaumont. Prices decided the first two slots: only the opening races at Wangaratta and Queanbeyan were priced, so the stronger form horses later in the day, The Quiet Immortal at Wangaratta and Jade Trees at Beaumont, missed out on the best bet slot because their markets had not opened. Pearler takes the quaddie slot because no quaddie race at any of the three meetings had a price, and his course record is the strongest of the anchors on offer.
Beaumont doesn’t feature. None of its races had a market when this was written, and its best horse, Jade Trees, runs in the last race of the day. Of the priced Queanbeyan options, Chumpakidd and Head Capitalist are both $2.35 favourites with less consistent form than Dela Bella.