Powerhouse Melbourne based trainer Peter Moody appears to be slowly finding form north of the border and looks set to collect back to back wins with progressive filly Pretty Gully when she lines up at Wyong today.
Photo by Racing and Sports
While he obviously doesn't have the strength of numbers to match either Chris Waller or Gai Waterhouse, Moody currently holds one of the highest strike rates of any trainer in the NSW metropolitan region having trained four winners and eight minor placings from just nineteen attempts.
Making her debut as a two-year-old at Mornington back in January, Pretty Gully was sent north to join Moody's Sydney based team following her solid effort when finishing second behind Host Of The Party when resuming at Seymour in October.
Following up on what has since has proven a strong formline, Pretty Gully proved far too good for her rivals when scoring an impressive two-length victory at Rosehill on Melbourne Cup day.
Defeating home the Chris Waller trained Rastro the daughter of Spinning World proved quite green in the straight and appeared to have plenty left in hand when eased down to the line over 1200m.
Drawn awkwardly in today's small field expect Josh Parr to press forward and settle up close to the speed with likely leaders Belladini and Beune ensuring a good solid tempo.
While she does creep up in the weights for today's event she still looks to have plenty of upside and expect her to take a stack of beating.
The Hawkes team appear to mount the biggest danger to Pretty Gully when they saddle up Able Friend for just his second career start.
Making his debut at Rosehill last start, the son of Shamardal proved quite unfortunate not to make a winning start to his career when he was beaten narrowly by the Anthony Cummings trained Balzac.
Settling towards the back of the field, Able Friend was held up at a vital stage when entering the straight before running on strongly down the outside to just miss right on the line.
With plenty of improvement likely to be made following that performance expect him to settle back off the speed and come home late with a strong finish.
While Belladini's trial form might not read as well as a typical first starter from the Gai Waterhouse stable, you can still expect her to play a major role in the finish despite the awkward draw.
Having trialled four times in the lead up to this, the daughter of Bernardini has continued to show good progression with each visit to the races and like all Waterhouse runners expect her to be rock hard fit for her debut.
Expect Tommy Berry to roll forward on Bellandini from the wide draw and give them all something to chase.
The Robert Pearse trained Miata and the Paul Messara trained Dark Mojo round out the multiples.
Good luck and happy punting.
