Crack sprinter The Rising resumes at Belmont on Saturday and appears set to continue his unbeaten record fresh in the sixth race of the day.
Having only tasted defeat twice in his eight career starts to date the four-year-old son of Flying Pegasus has proven quite the talent and appears very well placed to continue on his winning ways.
Unbeaten in all three first up outings and unbeaten in all five previous attempts over 1000m there is plenty to like about the bold front-running type.
On raw form he rates clear of his nearest rivals and given he has trialled impressively in the lead up there does appear more to come from the Trevor Andrews trained galloper.
Installed the $2.30 favourite does seem a bit short in such a quality field however we still expect The Rising to win and we expect him to win well.
With the Simon Miller trained Darlington Abbey engaged it should hopefully see The Rising drift come race day and anything offered better than 6-4 appears a more than fair gamble.
The Simon Miller trained So Symbolic has been solid in both starts since joining his stable back in August and appears set to relish the step up to the mile on Saturday.
In three previous attempts he has never missed the money saluting the judge twice and is sure to be right at his peak racing third up.
Unsuited racing up on the speed last start when the fence was clearly off he should receive a more favoured run this time around drawn on the inside and shouldn't have to do much work to find a nice spot just off the speed.
While not much between the top couple of chances on raw form the fact So Symbolic has returned career peak figures over unsuitable trips first and second up suggests we are likely to see him run to a new peak on Saturday when getting out to a more suitable journey.
If able to do so there doesn't appear a galloper capable of matching it with him at this stage and given they are betting around each-way odds about him seems a more than worthy play.
The Adam Durrant trained Sail Maker has been in great form this time in however he is weighted up to absolute best on Saturday and would require to run to a career peak to prove successful.
Having tasted defeat last start he appears a good risk at the current quote given Hale Boy, Reset's Mate, Dubai Escapade and Commended all given equal chances of taking out the race.
While he may prove successful the idea of taking 6-4 about him appears a poisoned price at this point in time.
BEST FROM THE WEST:
BANKER: Race 6 #4 The Rising @ $2.30
PLAY OF THE DAY: Race 7 #7 So Symbolic @ $4.00
LAY OF THE DAY: Race 9 #1 Sail Maker @ $2.40
