Shayne O’Cass’s extended preview and tips for Rosehill Gardens

Daily Telegraph form analyst Shayne O’Cass examines every race for the Rosehill Gardens meeting on Saturday to point you in the right direction to finding a winner.

Fox Fighter is backing up at Rosehill on Saturday after a nice fourth at Hawkesbury last Saturday. Picture: Getty Images

Daily Telegraph form analyst Shayne O’Cass runs the rule over every race, including suggested bets, for Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.

The Form: Complete NSW Racing thoroughbred form, including video replays and all you need to know about every horse, jockey and trainer. Find a winner here.

ROSEHILL

Track: Soft 5. Rail: True.

RACE 1

Overview: Ravenclaw was a $220,000 Magic Millions Yearling with a good pedigree and raised on a good farm. He went to a champion trainer and so far as the trials go, ‘not shown up’ would be an adequate description of both. Wyong Magic Millions 2YO Classic and Doomben winner Sovereign Fund will surely be back in the Sunshine State this winter. Great trial, great barrier, great jockey but not such a great weight. Ducasse is a striking type with a fabulous pedigree and his trials were first rate.

The Bet: Ravenclaw each-way, box trifecta 4, 5, 6, 9

RACE 2

Overview: Was there a better run in the Country Championship Final than Bianco Vilano? I doubt it. He is another horse on the day with a huge weight but what point is there to claim when you get James McDonald. None really. No reason why Preemptory can’t win again. Proost has won from 1700m to 1900m and this is 1400m. She is fresh though and if they run along at usual Highway speed, she might just find it within herself to launch into the placings late.

The Bet: Proost each-way

Group 1-winning apprentice Dylan Gibbons rides Wrathful in the Midway Handicap. Picture: Getty Images

RACE 3

Overview: Wrathful has won two from four and was fourth at the other one. Both times you could make a case to say he was the ‘run of the race’. He is bound for much better races than Midways but any worse than a Soft 6 and I’m bailing out and heading towards Super Legend who would have needed to be Sir Dapper to win given the ground he covered last start. Miracle Spin probably has the biggest finish in this weekend’s Midway.

The Bet: Wrathful to win, Super Legend each-way, quinella 13, 14

RACE 4

Overview: Flag Of Honour won his maiden like the proverbial ‘good horse’. He won at Rosehill three weeks later then strung together fourth placings in the Ming Dynasty and Dulcify. Trialled twice and went like a bomb in both. There’s a big race in him; that should read, races, plural. Mirra View has the ultimate wet track pedigree and it shows in her form. If it gets Heavy by now, she might be the one. Contemporary has started to hit his straps.

The Bet: Flag Of Honour to win (best bet), Mirra View each-way

RACE 5

Overview: Fox Fighter was kept safe around the $15 mark in last Saturday’s Hawkesbury Rush where at one stage he looked like he might run over the top of then but when the leader/winner goes 1.02.23s, last 600m in 32.76s, getting beaten one and a half lengths from where Fox Fighter was in the run was a moral victory. Has great numbers at the track and trip. Dashing Legend is a three-year-old filly against all comers but her last four starts have been in stakes-races and she won one of them.

The Bet: Fox Fighter to win

RACE 6

Overview: That Shameless Miss resumes over 1800m and not 1400m like she did last preparation signals a bit of intent (to steal a line from Duff). She has a real wet-trackers pedigree and it shows in her form, even though she goes on anything. Trialled twice, tick and double tick. Sometimes the numbers tell it better than words and that certainly applies to Navajo Peak who has raced 13 times for five wins and four seconds. He is one for one at the distance, won two from four on Heavy while his record on Soft is six starts for three wins and three seconds.

The Bet: Shameless Miss each-way

RACE 7

Overview: Few, if any, more interesting runners than the Chris Waller-trained Kiwi recruit Podium Queen who is a direct descendant of the great Habibti. She is by Ocean Park whose progeny invariably like the wet. In fact, Podium Queen seems to almost require Soft track. She ran well in a deep trial on April 11. Kayobi seemed to have his chance in the Provincial-Midway Final but still deserves credit for running fourth. Floating lives up to the old adage ‘greys in the wet’. Maybe even go as far as to say, the wetter the better.

The Bet: Podium Queen to win

The Magic Man, Joao Moreira, will partner Podium Queen at her Australian debut on Saturday. Picture: Getty Images

RACE 8

Overview: Spangler was dominant in the Provincial-Midway Final but Cross The Rubicon was probably the best run out of the 15 and maybe even a bit stiff not to win. For the record, she totally bungled the start and was pretty much done after that. She seems to love Soft and handles Heavy. The ‘best’ Frumos wins a lot of races, this included. Can think of two from the trials files here; Notions and Kouklara.

The Bet: Cross The Rubicon to win, Daily Double 1st leg (6), 2nd leg (10).

RACE 9

Overview: Rebel Rama is a hugely underrated and overpriced mare. She has won nearly $600,000, she is a stakes winner, her four wins have been at trips ranging from 1400m to 2150m. She likes if soft underfoot, her trials have better than they read and as someone who liked her in the Five Diamonds Prelude at $31, I ask, how did she go up $71 to win this easier race? I’m no Tim Bailey or Alan Wilkie but it does seem like it’s going to be pretty wet on Saturday afternoon. In one word, Brutality.

The Bet: Rebel Rama small each-way

RACE 10

Overview: Robusto has a pattern that virtually ensures that he will lose more races than he wins by virtue of lack of tempo, track bias, bad rides, bad luck etc. Let’s take ‘bad ride’ of the equation for Saturday with James McDonald in the saddle. Could be pretty wet by now and his only run on a heavy track was a close fourth in the Ken Russell. Excelladus has a 33 per cent winning strike-rate overall but is 100 per cent on Soft tracks and 50 per cent on Heavy. Have a feeling that Shameonus might jump up out of the ground here at big odds.

The Bet: Robusto to win, quinella 7, 10

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Originally published as Shayne O’Cass’s extended preview and tips for Rosehill Gardens