With the wet tracks continuing in Sydney this Saturday, it is hard to go past the inform See The World in the feature Listed Winter Stakes over 1400m at Warwick Farm this afternoon.
Photo by Racing and Sports
The rising star of Sydney winter racing, See The World has been in sparkling form winning three of his last four starts, but does face his stiffest test today tacking listed company over a new distance when coming off a seven day break.
See The World has already won in listed company two starts back in the Takeover Target Stakes over 1200m at Gosford and although a winner at 1300m has never previously raced at 1400m.
I don't necessarily see that as a negative particularly as he has superior wet track credentials to most of his rivals this afternoon.
See The World has always shown potential but in five runs this campaign has improved his Timeform rating 15 pounds making him the top selection on weight adjusted Timeform ratings this afternoon.
The danger I foresee to his winning hopes today is the likely tempo of the race. See The World has a devastating burst of acceleration at the end of his races normally off a hot speed up front, so if the tempo is too leisurely then that attribute may not be as decisive as it was last start coming from near last at the 400m mark over 1100m at Rosehill to win comfortably in benchmark 95 company.
That aside, See The World is still well weighted and will easily handle the wet track. I see no reason why he cannot continue on his winning way.
Startsmeup and King Lionheart are class runners in this line up and that will carry them a long way, but there are question marks over both in the track conditions.
Queensland galloper Startsmeup comes to Sydney this afternoon second up from a spell on the back of a solid victory in class 6 company at Ipswich 28 days ago.
That run rated well below his peak Timeform rating as the race was run under set weight conditions which considerably favoured the gelding.
However Startsmeup does bring some impressive form and ratings to the race from his previous campaign in Sydney last Spring.
On that occasion he was third at weight for age behind Pinwheel in the G2 Warwick Stakes, a close up fifth to Trusting in the G2 Chelmsford Stakes and runner up to Thankgodyou'rehere in the G2 Bill Ritchie Stakes.
In light of today's line up, that form is very strong and on weight adjusted ratings there is little between him and See The World.
However the big difference this afternoon is possibly their ability to handle the wet track conditions which may just give See The World the slight edge.
Startsmeup has raced seven times on slow or heavy ground for a second in the Warwick Stakes on heavy ground and two thirds, whereas See The World has raced eight times on slow or heavy ground for four wins and a second placing. So while the overall wet track stats look poor, one of his best rating efforts was in the Warwick Stakes in heavy going.
The Gai Waterhouse-trained King Lionheart is another galloper with plenty of class. Already a winner at Group 2 level in the Shannon Stakes over 1500m last year defeating Fast Clip and Secret Admirer he carries top weight of 59kgs this afternoon.
Once again, on straight statistics, the wet conditions may not be all to his liking but upon further investigation he failed twice in heavy going at the end of his last campaign which could be attributed to the fact he was “over the top”. At his only other run in heavy going as a younger horse in easier class he was beaten less than a length over 1550m at Canterbury.
Once again, weight adjusted Timeform ratings have this fellow just two pounds behind See The World and a pound off Startsmeup.
If all three run to form, we should be in for an exciting finish.
King Lionheart has not raced since failing behind Praecido in the Listed Parramatta Cup but has had two easy barrier trials in preparation for this afternoon's race.
It is significant that he won the G2 Shannon Stakes fresh up last campaign so he cannot be taken lightly today.
The other main winning chance is Tromso but his best form has been on tracks no worse than dead, so he will be another to treat with caution if the track further deteriorates.
A rather incinsistent type but he does have the ratings when focussed to be a threat, so a must include for the multiples at least.
Enjoys a great contest between those at the top of the weights.
