It's not quite Golden Slipper Day but Bendigo's Golden Mile meeting throws up a couple of interesting betting races.
The feature, the Golden Mile, hardly looks a race for the ages with no recent winning form to work with and 9 of the 12 runners having finished eighth or worse last time seen.
The best last start performance belongs to Velox who ran second at Flemington back in the spring. That was a solid performance behind the talented Divan who has come back and posted a couple of high-rating seconds in the autumn.
That run was in line with Velox's ratings profile throughout the spring where he performed well in races of more depth than this year's Golden Mile.
A further positive for Velox is that his good form in the spring time is still short of the very best of his form in the UK where he started his career.
He won over a mile at Sandown on Eclipse Stakes Day in 2014, taking out a competitive handicap in overall time that, when adjusted for standards, was within five lengths of the days feature, and he was backed that form right up later in the prep when second in the Cambridgeshire at Newmarket - one of Britain's richest handicaps.
If he can recapture that level of form at Bendigo then the Golden Mile is as good as his, though he is probably best assessed on what we saw from him in the spring time. Either way, he's a strong winning hope and we think a $3.50 chance as opposed to the $5.50 that is widely available in early markets.
Click here for TopBetta's Golden Mile market
The fifth race on the card is an interesting staying contest with a couple from the same stable looking to have good upside.
Assign is the early favourite, and he has a good winning chance, but at each way odds his stablemate Wexford Town makes good appeal.
He chased Assign home at Caulfield first up from and break and his effort there was rock solid. He will no doubt be fitter for that run and he was a good winner second up in the spring time when he went to Adelaide and posted a strong performance from the front.
He can roll forward at Bendigo under a good, positive rider in Kate Mallyon and stay in the race for a long way. We think he's a genuine winning hope and worth having on side at the price.
THE MELBOURNE MAIL
Best Of The Day: Race 7 #8 Velox @ $5.50
Each Way Play: Race 5 #7 Wexford Town @ $6.50
