3 minute read

We may have murdered the SP last weekend but unfortunately you can’t eat odds with King Of Sparta going down narrowly behind Geist.

As you can tell I'm still a little salty but we push onto Kembla Grange and there looks to be decent bets across the card.

Confident we can get the money early with the Maher and Eustace trained Mankayan.

An eye catcher in both his Australian starts he gets two very big ticks on Saturday as he steps up to 2400m and also draws a gate to take up a position.

When formerly trained in the UK under the care of Charlie Fellows he was an on-pacer so expect him to be ridden forward.

Was very happy to see the RNSW Stewards agree as they have him in the one-one on their official speedmaps, if that's the case I think it's close to game over.

Mankayan has already trimmed up across the boards but if you shop well $2.90 is still available this afternoon.

It is worth mentioning that he started 3-1 in this grade last start, so why would he be considerably shorter on Saturday?

A valid query however he was forced to go right back from the wide draw last start and still almost won.

On Saturday he gets out to a more preferred trip, should be nearing his peak third up and has drawn to be prominent early.

He virtually rates top off his last start and given we expect him to improve further it's easy to mark him quite short.

I expect to see him start closer to evens than $2.50.

The final event is a cracker and while drawn off the track happy to side with Bowman aboard Brookspire.

Trained by Chris Waller, Brookspire was backed off the map first up she duly saluted when far too good at Randwick (K).

She returned a new career peak and the clock backed up the strength of her performance.

Unbeaten second up and have no concerns with her back on top of the ground.

The knock is the wide draw, however with a touch of luck she can find a back to follow coming into the straight and get over the top of them.

Out of a Zabeel mare Brookspire should continue to improve and is just better than this grade.

I couldn't find a bet in The Run To The Rose, I'm just going to enjoy that one for what it is – an absolute corker!

Simon Dinopoulos' Tips:

Race 2 #1 Mankayan @ $2.90

Race 10 #9 Brookspire @ $4.50