Best bets and inside mail for Kempsey and Bathurst for Tuesday

Star apprentice Mollie Fitzgerald can kickstart what looks to be a booming end to her 2023/24 season aboard a gelding who’s been knocking on the door in recent starts.

Kitsilano (circled), pictured running third behind She's All Sass at Muswellbrook two starts back, can break through for a deserved victory at Kempsey on Tuesday. Picture: Bradley Photos

Star apprentice Mollie Fitzgerald can kickstart what looks to be a booming end to her 2023/24 season aboard a gelding who’s been knocking on the door in recent starts.

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KEMPSEY TIPS

BEST BET
Race 1 No.3 KITSILANO
Placed four from nine and went as close as ever before last time.

NEXT BEST
Race 5 No.5 SUMO FISH
Has run well in some good races in his time. Big improver away from Heavy.

VALUE
Race 6 No.2 GOLDEN HONOUR
On a hat-trick, unbeaten in two runs at Kempsey, just need luck from the alley.

QUADDIE
Race 4: 3,7,10,11
Race 5: 2,5
Race 6: 2,3
Race 7: 3,4

JOCKEY TO FOLLOW
Mollie Fitzgerald is going to have plenty of admirers in the TAB Jockeys Challenge.

KEMPSEY INSIDE MAIL

Race 4: Maiden Plate (1250m)
SHARPEN THE KNIVES (10) is a blueblood Snitzel filly out of an I Am Invincible mare. The Sam Kavanagh-trained three-year-old has finished runner-up three times and once third in just five starts and all of them have been at provincial level. Drawn wide but has the superior formlines. SO OUTRAGEOUS (3) was a Rosehill runner-up on debut when Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou had him. The son of So You Think was beaten a long, long way first-up for Glen Milligan but the winner did win by a long, long way. Stablemate UNCUT GEM (11) is next best.
Bet: Sharpen The Knives or if scratched So Outrageous to win.

Race 5: Benchmark 58 (1250m)
SUMO FISH (5) has a tidy record of two wins and a second from his 13 starts. We say tidy because he has a fair few ‘good runs’ in ‘good races’ to go with those three medals. He may have the word ‘fish’ in his name but he is no swimmer, so forgive the last start on a Heavy 10. RUN RORY RUN (2) has been in fabulous form this whole campaign but it has coincided with a seemingly endless sequence of Heavy tracks. NEVADA SMOKE (9) is a track/distance winner.
Bet: Sumo Fish to win, Daily Double 1st leg (5), 2nd Leg (3).

Race 6: Benchmark 58 (1450m)
GOLDEN HONOUR (2) is a Glenn Milligan-trained gelding chasing a hat-trick on Tuesday. Not only has the horse won his last couple, he is also unbeaten in two runs at Kempsey and in terms of the wide draw on Tuesday, he won from barrier 10 of 10 here one-day. RUSH ATTACK (3) has his first run for Nathan Doyle and no one gets tried horses going better than him, IMHO. LORD FINLAND (5) is mega-consistent and was building up to that last start win. SLUSH FUND (8) is a major contender.
Bet: Golden Honour to win.

Race 7: Class 1 Handicap (1000m)
FLOSS’S ONE (3) is a Glen Milligan-trained filly who has a win, two seconds and two thirds from her seven starts. The daughter of Super One passed a lot of horses at Taree last start to finish third to the handy Monte Cruise. This is a pretty good line-up (if they all come) but she is too consistent to ignore. LOVE FOR ASHER (4) is a very interesting mare. She has only had three runs so far; the win was just outstanding and that first-up behind Cool Storm. The Luke Pepper-trained LEGOLAS (1) was third to Lonhro’s Queen two starts ago.
Bet: Floss’s One to win, Love For Asher each-way, quinella 3,4.

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BATHURST TIPS

BEST BET
Race 6 No.4 CHICO CASINO
Lightly-raced local in a good yard whose only win so far was her at home.

NEXT BEST
Race 3 No.3 BUFF IN DISGUISE
Son of Dandino who has won out west and is building up to peak fitness.

VALUE
Race 7 no.12 ARTIBETT
Been pretty poor in the last two but back to country grade this time.

BATHURST INSIDE MAIL

Race 5: Benchmark 58 (1300m)
NAVAL DESTROYER (2) is ‘221’ in three runs for Cameron Crockett. Resumes here in a very suitable race off some smashing trials, just unknown on wet ground, that’s all. He was scratched from a wet Muswellbrook on Monday so is not a good thing to be here on the day. Same for stablemates WHO EVER THOUGHT (4) (he too was scratched from Muswellbook) and CLIMATE CONTROL (5). Both have claims if they happened to be here.
Bet: Naval Destroyer to win.

Race 6: Class 1 Handicap (1400m)
CHICO CASINO (4) is trained at Bathurst by Dean Mirfin. Three of the horse’s five starts have been at this venue; he won one of them (easily) and was third, on a Heavy 8, in another. The son of Casino Prince is third-up on Tuesday and back home after a creditable fifth at Wyong. SHISUTA BO (5) has some deep form; a win and two seconds (and a Canterbury fourth to Mogwai) in six runs. The trials have been excellent and Alysha Collet is one ride, one easy win on her.
Bet: Chico Casino to win, exacta 4 to beat 5, Daily Double 1st Leg (4), 2nd Leg (3).

Race 7: Benchmark 66 (1100m)
ARTIEBETT (12) has three wins, no placings and a few underwhelming runs in her 11 starts. She won first-up at Goulburn but was pretty ordinary in the next two at Hawkesbury and Kembla. Back to the country on Tuesday. NO SECOND THOUGHTS (13) was a beaten favourite here on debut but did at least run third. Her best form has been on Heavy tracks and she is awfully well in after the claim. THAT’S BETTER (6)’s form is as good as any of these and better than most.
Bet: Artiebett to win, box trifecta 6,10,12,13.

Race 8: Benchmark 66 (1100m)
LIFE’S A PARTY (3) has won four times and was twice second in her 11 starts so far. In that time, she was a neck runner-up to Gallant Star in a Highway and was sixth of 14 in the CDRA Championship Qualifier. Unbeaten here, one for one on Heavy. Former SA-housed galloper SIXFOOTONE (7) has won twice and placed twice more in his six starts since relocating to Jake Hull’s Gosford digs. First-up form reads well, handles the slop and trialled well.
Bet: Life’s A Party to win.

Originally published as Best bets and inside mail for Kempsey and Bathurst for Tuesday