3 minute read
Back to Caulfield this Saturday for the Vobis Gold card which is always a cracker and it's littered with plenty of smart horses again in 2022.
Last week we threw up Grandslam as the each way play having played him at Flemington the start prior and so now, seven days on, he finds himself written up in the Melbourne Mail; and this time it's as the headline act.
No each-way prices this week! Grandslam goes in race four, the Vobis Gold Heath, and it's a race that he really should step up and take with very little depth to the line up and nothing with a peak rating that should bother him at all if he is on song.
That is the obvious knock. He's been off-song a lot more than he has been on, but he has had just three runs since his Valley route this time last year and all three have been easily excused.
That might be a touch kind in regards to last start. He had his chance there and simply tired late on, but he was quickly up to 2000m and now the gun stable have had another 35 days to bring him to his top - and even if they fail on that score he could easily get away with it anyway.
I make Grandslam's slightly disappointing last-start slightly better than anything that the other horse at the top of the market, Ain'tnodeeldun, has achieved, and while that one did well off such a long break first up, he was just fair last time and will need to step right up should Grandslam getting rolling.
And get rolling is just what Grandslam should so. There is no great pace engaged here and he should be able to cruise over and flow in the first few for Jamie Kah - a recipe that is easy to like and very easy to back. We suggest doing so.
In the Gold Mile, So Si Bon goes for a three-peat, having won this in 2020 and 2021, and he again looks to take advantage of the set-weights and penalties conditions in a race he has clearly been targeted towards.
It is true that in the 12 months since his last win here he has been exclusively below his best, and his return at Bendigo was only just, but that was strongly run and the right race to bring him to the boil for Saturday where the form he has shown to win the last two editions surely won't be required to land it for the third time.
The only one in the race with a rating to force last year's winning rating of 115 out of So Si Bon is the early favourite Junipal who is rated 115 himself - but that form came in the spring of 2020. He was good fresh from a long break this time around, and clearly retains some, if not all, of his ability, but he was galloped on last time and now fronts up seven weeks between runs.
Umgawa won nicely enough at Flemington last time, and the clock shows him a nice light, but he faces that aforementioned pair on tough terms; Junipal off levels and getting just three kilos from the established So Si Bon who makes more than enough each way appeal at prices around $8.00.
THE MELBOURNE MAIL
Bet Of The Day: Race 4 #2 Grandslam @ $2.60
Each Way Play: Race 8 #1 So Si Bon @ $8.00
