3 minute read

Lawrence Stakes Day is one of the key kick off point for many spring campaigns and it looks a deep and interesting card in 2018.

Our each way play comes up in the feature with Showtime making plenty of appeal at double figure prices in the early betting.

Showtime was placed in the Futurity at the course and distance back in the autumn where, despite not winning, he showed himself an improved model to the one that we saw winning the Stutt Stakes in the Melbourne spring.

That Stutt win was run at a mad tempo but he was good enough to see off a closing group that included Mighty Boss and Holy Snow - two key Lawrence rivals.

He not only had the edge on the track, he had it in the betting ring as well. In four meetings he leads Mighty Boss 3-1 in both battlegrounds.

Given that he's the more likely winner of that pair on Saturday by our reckoning. He also edged out Hartnell for third in the All Aged back in the autumn providing another piece of evidence that points to him belonging at the pointy end of the betting this weekend.

Another positive for Showtime is the fact that he has had a run this preparation, blowing off the cobwebs with a decent effort in the Missile where things didn't fall for him.

Our bet of the day mirrors our bet from last week. Brave Song was well backed last week - so we weren't the only ones making a case for him - and ran well to finish third to a couple of very smart older sprinters.

His closing splits were good, and importantly for this week they show that he died on his run over the last 200m.

A slowly run 1100m first up, three weeks prior to last Saturday, may have left him just a touch underdone.

Given that the back up looks ideal. He's in a very sharp stable and they look to have played this hand very well. In a strong looking Regal Roller he has the fitness edge on rivals that are sure to be well fancied leaving him looking a very appealing bet.

THE MELBOURNE MAIL

Bet Of The Day: Race 8 #7 Brave Song @ $4.20

Each Way Play: Race 7 #14 Showtime @ $10.00