Moonee Valley Preview & Best Bets – Saturday August 20

in Bets of the Day 18 Aug 2022

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

Moonee Valley Tips 20/08/2022

BEST BET 🏆

Race 7 No. 1 GOLD TRIP – ($4.40)

Hefty impost of 62kg but I expect GOLD TRIP to be winning this. The Maher/Eustace-trained galloper finally made his Australian debut recently in the Winter Challenge (1500m) at Randwick and carted 61kg that day before running home in impressive fashion to grab 3rd behind Cross Talk. He didn’t enjoy much room early on in the straight before producing the fastest last 200m. He was right in the market for the Cox Plate (2040m) last year before being scratched late in the piece. The step up to the 2040m looks perfect at this stage and suspect he will take some beating.

NEXT BEST 🥈

Race 1 No. 1 VA VIA – ($4.60)

We open up with the fillies in action over the 1200m and VA VIA can go a couple of spots better than a first up effort that saw her finish 3rd behind Winnertakesitall. That came on July 30 at the Moonee Valley meeting and the Godolphin galloper settled back after drawing the widest of nine before closing off well to produce the fastest last 200m of the entire meeting. The daughter of Astern will strip fitter for this and was around the mark in some Group races at her debut preparation. Damien Oliver sticks on board and we can expect to see the pair fighting out the finish.

NEXT BEST 🥈

Race 9 No. 6 THE GARDEN – ($4)

We close off with a BenchMark 84 over the 1200m and early money trail suggests that THE GARDEN can make a big impression at his first run back from a spell. The promising galloper from the Symon Wilde stables has had the nine career runs for four wins and was runner-up last time in a strong form race at Caulfield when resuming over the 1100m before later winning at Sandown. He was a winner in a weaker race at Geelong at his previous fresh run. The five-year-old heads to the Valley for the first time and his racing pattern suggests that he might be suited. Ben Melham rides and has combined well with this stable in the past.

BEST VALUE 💰

Race 3 No. 1 FORGOT YOU – ($5)

Keen on FORGOT YOU in Race 3 of the day. The Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained galloper will need to do it first up but this is the easiest race that he has tackled in some time and I don’t mind him at the distance range. He was an excellent 4th when resuming in the autumn in the CS Hayes Stakes (1400m) at Flemington. Worth noting that all three of his win have come at Moonee Valley and he went 11.8 lengths faster than standard over the 1500m this time a year ago before later going on to take out the Moonee Valley Vase (2040m). He draws to save ground from barrier 1 and tempo looks genuine here with Rousseau and Shot Of Irish to go forward.