Melbourne punters will be looking to rally back at Sandown this Saturday after Flemington played tough last weekend.

One of the interesting things to take away from Flemington last weekend was that the Darren Weir runners who brought Warrnambool form to the meeting struggled to run anywhere near expectation. Such runners are prominent again at Sandown this weekend and we fancy one in Nikitas.

Nikitas was a winner first up from a break at the Warrnambool May Carnival and his win came in the style of a horse that could go right on with it over the winter months. He won the same race that stablemate Voodoo Lad won last year with a very similar profile.

Last weekend's results may hint at Nikitas coming right off his first up winning rating but his overall profile suggests that he is a horse to follow deep into the campaign. Voodoo Lad went on to win a trio of stakes races in the early spring and based on the level that Nikitas has raced at in the past a similar result wouldn't be out of the question. Hopefully he can start by building on the first up win when he goes to Sandown on Saturday.

For an each way play we are chasing the particularly hard to catch, Petrology.

Petrology ticked past a year without a win last time, unable to defend his Caulfield Handicap success from 12 months ago, but he ran a very similar rating in defeat and all three runs this time in have pointed to him being as well as ever.

Saturday's race looks to set up well for him and while we could hardly label him reliable we can label him good enough on his day. There's enough juice in his double figure price to gamble on this being a day where he shows up and if he does, he's right in the finish.

The Melbourne Mail

Bet Of The Day: Race 2 #6 Nikitas @ $7.00

Each Way Play: Race 6 #6 Petrology @ $10.00