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Mitch Cohen’s Blackbook: Five to follow from Rosehill on Saturday

Daily Telegraph racing expert Mitch Cohen has run the rule over all the action at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.

Mitch Cohen
4 min read
February 2, 2025 - 9:16AM
The Playwright held off Tempted and Snitzel Miss in the Widden Stakes. Picture: Jeremy Ng-Getty Images
The Playwright held off Tempted and Snitzel Miss in the Widden Stakes. Picture: Jeremy Ng-Getty Images

Daily Telegraph racing expert Mitch Cohen has analysed Saturday’s 10-race card at Rosehill Gardens.

FIVE TO FOLLOW

PELEUS (race 3 – 3rd)

The son of Pariah performed very well on debut, finishing off strongly to finish less than two lengths off the winner. He came into his city debut with just one trial under his belt so will only improve. Stablemate Hillier was similarly impressive.

TEMPTED (race 4 – 2nd)

Had to go back from the wide draw and made up a stack of ground closest to the fence to just miss gunning down The Playwright. She will be hard to beat next start.

SNITZEL MISS (race 4 – 3rd)

Wove a passage through the field from second last and was right there in the finish with Tempted and The Playwright. A fantastic debut from a filly that could only improve.

STAGNUM (race 5 – 2nd)

Looked the winner at the furlong pole before narrowly getting pipped at the post by Art’s Alive. He’s racing well in his debut preparation and another win isn’t far away.

MATUSALEM (race 10 – 9th)

Short of his best first-up, the Chris Waller-trained galloper was only getting warm late in the final event on the program. He looks to have come back in good order and should be ready to win third-up.

STEWARDS SAY 

Pocketing (race 2): Zac Lloyd reported the gelding never travelled comfortably in the middle stages and came under pressure after the 800m. He was displaying cardiac arrhythmia post-race.

Noble Soldier (race 2): A post-race veterinary examination revealed the gelding to have a superficial laceration to the off-hind lateral cannon.

Shangri La Express (race 7): Gave ground in the home straight and was found to be 1/5 lame in the near-foreleg.

Infatuation, Munitions (race 7): Both were found to have bled in both nostrils for the first time and are banned from racing for three months. Trainer Richard Litt said Munitions would be retired.

Piggyback (race 6): Tyler Schiller said Piggyback did not close off the race in the home straight and may have been better suited with give in the ground. She was displaying mild heat stress post-race.

CRUNCH TIME

Hillier (race 2): Nearly broke 33 seconds for his last 600m alongside stablemate Peleus on debut. Both colts settled near the back in the run before working home strongly with impressive respective last 600m splits of 33.03 and 33.06 seconds.

Tempted (race 3): She was dragged back to last from the wide draw before running the best last 600m of the Widden Stakes to go within a whisker of winning. Her last three furlongs were run in 33.57 seconds with a race-best final 200m of 11.40.

Bunker Hut (race 7): Benefited from a charmed run on the fence in behind the speed before exploding late with his 11.04 seconds last 200m a clear best from runner up Lady Boss (11.46).

Disneck (race 8): Ran enormous in defeat in the Southern Cross, rattling home from last with a slick last 600m of 32.34 seconds, which was the best of the meeting. He clocked an eye-catching 10.95, 10.53 and 10.86 for his final three splits.

TRACK TALK

“The horse he does remind me of is Best Of Bordeaux. He’s not very big, he’s got a lot of Snitzel about him and he’s got good speed.”-Gerald Ryan on Blitzburg.

We’ll just pick our races with him and if he’s flying at Slipper time, yeah we would perhaps go there but at the moment I don’t think he’s a Slipper horse.’ - Ryan again.

“She’s just one out of the box, this filly, and she feels small everywhere until you jump out of the barriers on her. She’s got so much heart and force,” - Regan Bayliss on The Playwright.

“This is what the game is about – there are no rules.” - Marc Conners after his $7000 purchase Willaidow saluted.

“He’s just a bulldog, and I think he was beaten about three times up the straight. Late, I actually thought I got out-bobbed, but to his credit, he just kept finding.” - Tyler Schiller on Willaidow.

YOU CAN BET ON IT

Southern Cross Stakes

Willaidow was fourth best backed with TAB despite being equal second favourite after drifting back to its opening price of $4.60 pre-race and then reverting to the $4.20 mark in a good open betting race.

While Disneck and Accredited attracted the bulk of the big outlays, Willaidow still attracted multiple $1000 bets at $4.60 and $4.20 with TAB and $2500 each-way @ $4.20/$1.65.

Race 10

Yorkshire was a big return for punters and held over 60% of TAB investments as a short-priced favourite in the last after being backed from $1.90 into $1.50 before jumping at $1.65. Big bets included $8000 @ $1.60, $5000 outlays @ $1.60 and $1.50, $4500 @ $1.55, $4500 and $3000 @ $1.55 and multiple $2000 bets ranging from $1.60-$1.50 in price.

THIS WEEK

Monday: Dubbo, Muswellbrook

Tuesday: Grafton

Wednesday: Warwick Farm

Thursday: Albury, Scone

Friday: Canterbury Park, Walcha

Saturday: Royal Randwick, Kembla Grange, Gilgandra, Tumut, Walcha

Sunday: Nowra, Taree

RON DUFFICY’S ROSEHILL GARDENS SNAPSHOT

RUN OF THE DAY

Willaidow is a bulldog of a horse who really knows where the winning post is and you can rely on him to give his all trying to get there first.

He was great lifting off the canvas when challenged a few time down the straight fighting them off.

FORGET THEY RAN

The 2YO’s Tempted and Snitzel Miss had to give a big start on a biased track and did a good job to finish as close as they did.

THE BLACK BOOK

While disappointing, the two favourites Polyglot and Lilac didn’t fight the finish out don’t mark them down on that.

They both weren’t suited by covering ground and can bounce back.

RIDE OF THE DAY

Anna Roper stole the show with a winning double with two perfect rides.

She has cemented herself right up there with our best claiming apprentices and more opportunities should arise.

Originally published as Mitch Cohen’s Blackbook: Five to follow from Rosehill on Saturday

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Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/horse-racing/nsw-racing/mitch-cohens-blackbook-five-to-follow-from-rosehill-on-saturday/news-story/9986595c3a98078b614995dccc5e0c7a