Three meetings done and dusted, now there's just one to go. Oaks Day is over and now Stakes Day beckons so let's dive right in.
LOOKING BACK...
VRC Oaks (G1, 2500m, 3-y-o fillies set weights)
The tougher, more seasoned filly won. The favourite Zydeco appeared to have every chance but when it got down to a good old fashioned slog over the last 100m the experience of Dear Demi told. Don't forget she ran 2nd to Pierro in the G1 Champagne Stakes as a 2-y-o back in the Autumn. The second filly was brave but in the end trying to do it all on one preparation may have been too much. In that respect the run of the 3rd placegetter Summerbliss was outstanding as she was having just her third career start. They gapped the rest.
LOCKY'S SELECTIONS
2 Zydeco (2nd) - tried hard but outstayed. Had every possible hope.
1 Dear Demi (1st) - too tough.
6 Maraatib (4th) - tipped as the best roughie, I hope you had it in your First Fours!
Thumbs Up
Steven Arnold. Top class rider who doesn't get as many opportunities as he should due to his size. Had just three rides yesterday and bagged two winners and a narrow second.
LOOKING FORWARD...
Emirates Stakes (G1, 1600m, quality handicap)
A good field with plenty of chances according to the early market. Can Fawkner give Team Williams another Group 1? Queenslander Solzhenitsyn has been in good form with a win in the G1 Toorak followed by a close-up 3rd in the G2 Crystal Mile. Gai Waterhouse hopes to end her Melbourne Spring Carnival run of outs with Epsom winner Fat Al. Darley has a two-pronged attack with Ambidexter and Free Wheeling. Happy Trails gets back to his pet distance of a mile after his Cox Plate tilt, 2010 winner Wall Street is back for another try, top class mares Streama, Secret Admirer and Yosei back up after last week's Myer Classic and the in-form and lightly weighted Star of Giselle attempts to make it four wins in a row. A tough race as always.
LOCKY'S SELECTIONS
10 Fawkner
4 Solzhenitsyn
8 Secret Admirer
Patinack Farm Classic (G1, 1200m, w-f-a)
Sea Siren will start favourite and she looks the testing material but she'll want to bring her A-game. Mental is a serious racehorse and I don't think we've seen the best of him yet. Buffering has to be forgiven one bad run (think Green Moon) and therefore so too does Howmuchdoyouloveme. Temple of Boom is a specialist down the Flemington straight, Fontelina won the straight six race on Derby Day and Hallowell Belle won down the straight two starts back. The 3-y-o's Fire Thunderbolt and Snitzerland are well in at the weight scale.
LOCKY'S SELECTIONS
10 Sea Siren
5 Mental
1 Buffering
Queen Elizabeth Stakes (G3, 2600m, quality handicap)
Division 2 of the Melbourne Cup. Many of the horses who were balloted out of The Cup will be tackling this event as a consolation prize. I cautioned against this in last week's Mackinnon Stakes and hopefully steered you into Alcopop and away from odds-on flop Ocean Park. I also wrote after the Caulfiled Cup that I thought there was a nice race in Folding Gear if they set their sights a little lower. This could be that race. The other runners that have targeted this race specifically are Moonee Valley Cup winner Vatuvei and runaway Bendigo Cup winner Puissance de Lune who will start a short priced favourite.
LOCKY'S SELECTIONS
4 Folding Gear
11 Puissance de Lune
9 Vatuvei
$10,000 the win on the four
- Damien Oliver, Moonee Valley, 2010
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