3 minute read

The spring carnival is up and rolling now with a deep and high-class card at Flemington for Makybe Diva Stakes Day.

It's a deep betting card throughout but we're saving the best for last with the Darren Weir-trained Furrion taking our eye in the 1700m handicap.

At first glance he may seem short enough in a big field but there are plenty here that are on the wrong side of the curve and that shouldn't be the case for Furrion who looks to have a big spring ahead of him.

He was far too good first time out at Geelong but it's his run at the back of last campaign that seals him as the clear top pick for us.

There he chased home the talented Lucky For All in a particularly good overall time - the wide margins back through the field the result of a time that only good horses could have produced under the conditions.

Lucky For All was a clear winner there but Furrion was conceding not just weight but six months as a northern hemisphere three-year-old. And an important six months in the middle of his three-year-old year.

He was stamped as a coming stakes winner on that performance and there was nothing in the first up win at Geelong to put the coolers on that view.

For an each way play we look back to the sixth on the card - the Let's Elope Stakes for mares.

La Bella Diosa was terrific first up over 1100m - a trip that would be considered short of her best by most.

If that performance wasn't as good as anything she has produced in the past it certainly wasn't far off and it looks like just a kick-off point for her with races like the Let's Elope surely the target for her.

We think she should be favourite on the strength of that return and each way odds in the early markets look generous.

THE MELBOURNE MAIL

Bet Of The Day: Race 9 #15 Furrion @ $2.50

Each Way Play: Race 6 #9 La Bella Diosa @ $7.00