Cranbourne Preview & Best Bets – 19/01/2024

Our form expert provides tips for today’s Cranbourne horse racing at Cranbourne Racecourse and gives his best bets.    

Cranbourne Tips 19/01/2024

BEST BET 🏆   

Race 7 No. 5 STAUNCH ($3.80) 

STAUNCH can go close in Race 7. The Matt Laurie-trained galloper has been racing at Moonee Valley in recent times and finished runner-up in successive BenchMark 70 before stepping out in a BenchMark 64 on December 23, finishing 8th behind Call The Union. He was three wide without cover in that race and had excuses. The five-year-old has had two runs at Cranbourne for a win and a runner-up performance. Blake Shinn rides. 

NEXT BEST 🥈   

Race 2 No. 2  DRAGOON  ($4.65) 

DRAGOON has been knocking on the door in recent times and can go one spot better than a last start effort that saw him narrowly go down over the1500m here on December 29. In that race, the Greg Eurell-trained galloper settled handy and hit the lead in the last 100m before going down in the shadows, while there was a bit of a gap back to 3rd. He comes into this with the best last start benchmark figures of any runner and gets his chance over the mile. 

NEXT BEST 🥈   

Race 5 No. 2 ALONG THE RIVER ($4.55) 

ALONG THE RIVER should find this easier than recent runs. The five-year-old was placed behind the likes of Is It Me and Pink Beau Ty two starts ago at Caulfield before heading to Moonee Valley over the 1200m and placing 6th behind Pink Beau Ty. He was solid to the line in that race, going a very healthy 9.1 lengths faster than standard benchmark, which is 10 lengths better than the next best last start figures of any runner. Form from the Moonee Valley race has been franked with Jungle Jim going on to win well at Flemington.