Peter Snowden looks poised to take advantage of a stack of scratchings this afternoon and land the Warwick Farm Benchmark 75 Handicap (1300m) with Petrify.
Photo by Racing and Sports
The four-year-old son of Commands will likely strike a heavy track given Tuesday’s rainfall, and that should suit him perfectly unlike a lot of these.
Last-start winners Liechtenstein and Nitro have been scratched from the race, as have Mount Verde, Senta D’Amour, Magnolia Lane and Mon Soleil.
Petrify looked the likely winner of the race before scratchings, and now looks very hard to beat.
He’s an adaptable galloper who has won on surfaces ranging from a Good 3 to a Heavy 10.
Last start he returned a Timeform figure if 86 in narrowly winning a no-metro-win handicap over 1300m at Hawkesbury’s standalone Saturday metropolitan meeting earlier this month.
That result continued what’s been a very consistent preparation which has now netted three wins and three minor placings from six starts.
His win at Kembla Grange back in March looks the key result leading into this one – that came on a Heavy 10 and earned him a Timeform rating of 83.
Anything around that number might prove to be enough to win this one.
In-form stable jockey Kerrin McEvoy jumps back aboard four days after winning the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 on Epaulette, and should be able to continue his stellar recent run of form.
John O’Shea’s Nothing Like Luca shapes as the biggest danger, although the wet track doesn’t look to suit him.
He won resuming at Canterbury two weeks ago in similar grade, producing a Timeform figure of 88.
That was over 1200m carrying 2kg less than what he has here.
Nash Rawiller going aboard looks a positive today, but he’s drawn out wide and is unplaced in three runs over the 1300m.
The horse also a bit of a first-up specialist.
Timeform figures give him a chance here, but the wet track makes this very hard – he’s placed in two of six runs on a slow track or worse.
Shanghai Bund is the other one to watch after a couple of solid performances in arguably tougher than this.
Back-to-back fourth placings have returned Timeform figures of 82 and 87, so he can’t be overlooked.
He has won here once before too, and fourth-up he should be super fit. Like most of these, the wet track is a concern.
