Brisbane’s winter carnival reaches its crescendo on Saturday with a super card of action awaiting us, highlighted by the running of three Group One events. The first of those, the JJ Atkins, looks an extremely competitive heat with Chris Waller’s unbeaten Press Statement a $4.20 favourite in our Fixed Odds market after the master trainer made the late decision to accept for this race, perhaps influenced by his impressive win at Rosehill last weekend. Peter Moody’s Bassett fills the second line of betting at $4.40 after performing well in a trackwork gallop earlier in the week and while the step up from 1100m to a mile is unusual the trainer was this week talking up his chances, suggesting that this race was always on the radar as the horse is so adaptable. Chris Waller has a strong hand in the race with both Counterattack ($5) and Feast for Eyes ($18) having legitimate claims while Look to the Stars ($9) scored a knockout win in the Sires Produce and will look to repeat the dose under apprentice Luke Tarrant.
Coming off a solid win in last Saturday’s Eagle Farm Cup, where he became the first three year-old winner of the event in 20 years, Kiwi galloper Werther ($3.20) heads the betting for the Queensland Derby and having drawn favourably on the rails should be able to secure a nice run under Jim Byrne. While there was a query from some quarters as to his ability to back up in seven days, trainer Andrew Campbell was keen to quash those concerns, pointing out that the horse had already done so recently back in New Zealand and had trained on “super” since that effort. The other main contenders have come out of the Grand Prix Stakes, with Darren Weir’s Master of Arts ($4.20) perhaps the run of that race after making up plenty of ground from deep in the field and the extra distance here should suit, while Moody was keen to talk up the chances of the ultra consistent Upham ($10) although his wide draw is somewhat of a concern.
At the time of writing there is still conjecture as to the final make-up of the Stradbroke Field, with favourite Lumosty ($5) listed as the first emergency and reliant on a scratching to make the cut, Robbie Laing’s Lord of the Sky the most likely to make way if track conditions fail to deteriorate. Robert Smerdon’s glamour filly looked awesome in winning down the straight six at Flemington a fortnight ago and under her light weight should give this a real shake if she gets a run. Of those guaranteed a start, Western Australian Black Heart Bart ($6) has been heavily supported this week after rattling home behind Flamberge in the Goodwood but he will be making his first appearance at Doomben after trainer Vaughn Sigley elected to work the horse away from the track during the week, Boban ($11) was back to his best with a thumping win in the Doomben 10,000 but will concede a fair bit of weight to most of his rivals while Srikandi ($13) has become somewhat of the forgotten horse after an underwhelming effort in the 10,000 but would surely be right in this on her best form.
Coming off a solid win in last Saturday’s Eagle Farm Cup, where he became the first three year-old winner of the event in 20 years, Kiwi galloper Werther ($3.20) heads the betting for the Queensland Derby and having drawn favourably on the rails should be able to secure a nice run under Jim Byrne. While there was a query from some quarters as to his ability to back up in seven days, trainer Andrew Campbell was keen to quash those concerns, pointing out that the horse had already done so recently back in New Zealand and had trained on “super” since that effort. The other main contenders have come out of the Grand Prix Stakes, with Darren Weir’s Master of Arts ($4.20) perhaps the run of that race after making up plenty of ground from deep in the field and the extra distance here should suit, while Moody was keen to talk up the chances of the ultra consistent Upham ($10) although his wide draw is somewhat of a concern.
At the time of writing there is still conjecture as to the final make-up of the Stradbroke Field, with favourite Lumosty ($5) listed as the first emergency and reliant on a scratching to make the cut, Robbie Laing’s Lord of the Sky the most likely to make way if track conditions fail to deteriorate. Robert Smerdon’s glamour filly looked awesome in winning down the straight six at Flemington a fortnight ago and under her light weight should give this a real shake if she gets a run. Of those guaranteed a start, Western Australian Black Heart Bart ($6) has been heavily supported this week after rattling home behind Flamberge in the Goodwood but he will be making his first appearance at Doomben after trainer Vaughn Sigley elected to work the horse away from the track during the week, Boban ($11) was back to his best with a thumping win in the Doomben 10,000 but will concede a fair bit of weight to most of his rivals while Srikandi ($13) has become somewhat of the forgotten horse after an underwhelming effort in the 10,000 but would surely be right in this on her best form.