3 minute read

If you aren’t excited about a program of this quality, horse racing may not be for you.

A ten event program greets punters on Saturday with four capacity fields including the Sydney Cup (3200m) and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) where we farewell champion mare Winx from the racetrack.

The meeting boasts some excellent value plays including Wild Planet contesting the South Pacific Classic (1400m).

Wild Planet resumed with a slender second in the Darby Munro, just collared late by a rival he faces again here in Krone whilst narrowly beating Les Bridge’s boom three-year-old Classique Legend.

The Darby Munro trifecta put five lengths back to the chasing pack which includes another runner in the South Pacific Classic - Gem Song.

It shapes as the strongest form line brought into the contest however progressive types coming out of midweek events such as Green Aeon and Fasika are also in the mix for favouritism.

Considering the Darby Munro shapes as the pick of the form lines taken into the South Pacific Classic, Krone in theory represents Wild Planet’s biggest danger.

From the Darby Munro, Wild Planet meets Krone 1.5kg better at the weights for a slender defeat with Krone’s jockey Damien Oliver to ride 1kg over on Saturday.

He also likely brings more upside into the contest being earlier in his campaign.

The Sydney Cup is shaping as a staying spectacle with a full field of starters.

Midterm at his current double figure quote is too good to ignore.

The Team Williams-trained stayer has returned in superb order this prep and contests the Sydney Cup off a dominant victory in the N.E. Manion Cup (2400m) at Rosehill on March 23.

The son of Galileo had the race put to bed by the 600m as he cruised to the front early ahead of a chasing pack well under pressure.

While Midterm hasn’t raced since the Manion Cup, placegetters Big Duke and Shraaoh have finished second in the Tancred Stakes and Chairman’s Quality respectively.

The UK import is having his second Australian prep after an encouraging spring campaign where he performed well in both The Metropolitan (2400m) and the Geelong Cup (2400m).

Midterm’s Manion Cup victory was his best Australian performance to date by some way however still well shy of career best runs while based in Europe.

We are still only scratching the surface in Australia of what the Team Williams-trained runner is capable of.

After how strong he was through the line in the Manion Cup, Midterm looks poised on Saturday to build on the run.

The Offer for Gai Waterhouse in 2014 was the last horse to claim the Manion Cup-Sydney Cup double.

Team Williams know what it takes to win Sydney’s premiere two mile feature and head to Randwick on Saturday looking for a fifth Sydney Cup after Major Drive (1987), Gallic (2007), Mourayan (2013) and Gallante (2016).

Sydney Specials: Randwick - April 13

Each Way Play #1: R2; #4 Wild Planet @ $6.00

Each Way Play #2: R8; #11 Midterm @ $10.00