Geelong Preview & Best Bets – Friday August 11

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

Geelong Tips 11/8/2023

BEST BET 🏆 (WIN)  

Race 2 No. 4 GOLDEN ESTRELLA- ($2.40)

Nice debut by GOLDEN ESTRELLA at Sandwon on July 5 and the Maher/Eustace galloper can go a few spots better here. Her debut came on July 5 over the 1200m and she settled just worse than midfield before making a long and sustained run out wide to finish a few lengths behind the eventual winner, Refreshing. The daughter of Zoustar went 1.3 lengths faster than standard benchmark and outside of New York Scandal, that is a better figure than what any horse in this race has produced in their careers. She should have improvement to come at her second career start and will be ridden by Ben Melham, who just needs to negotiate barrier 11. 

NEXT BEST 🥈 (WIN) 

Race 3 No 15 SUNSETS- ($3.20)

SUNSETS can get the job done in Race 3 after a last start effort that saw him finish runner-up at Sandown on July 26. That came over the 1400m and he settled handy but couldn’t quite knock over Ambassadorial. He produced the fastest 400m-200m split but was run down late. The son of Dundeel went 2.1 lengths slower than standard benchmark in that race, which is three lengths better than the next best last start figures of any runner. He comes into this third up and with the fitness in the tank. Damien Oliver rides. 

BEST VALUE 💰(EACH-WAY)

Race 7 No 4 THE BRILL BUILDING- ($8.70)

This looks to be a suitable assignment for THE BRILL BUILDING. The Philip Stokes-trained galloper drops down from city racing and was solid when resuming with a 3rd at Caulfield on July 8 over the 1100m before lining up at Sandown and producing a bit of a flat run when 7th over the 1000m. That came in a BenchMark 70 and this does look easier, while he has gone faster than standard in both of his runs this time. He should tuck in nicely from barrier 3 with Daniel Moor to ride.