ROWLEY MILE - Hawkesbury, 1600m R7
The Rowley Mile holds an interesting spot on the racing calendar, being a listed race at Hawkesbury on a Winter Thursday.
Still, it does tend to be a race that holds up. Last year’s winner Skyman took out another two black type races last season, Berdibek won the Wyong Cup after winning this in 2021, and Gaulois won this in 2019 before winning another couple of races later that season including at Group 3 level.
Chris Waller has won four of the last seven editions of the Rowley Mile, and looks to hold the aces this year with exactly half of the 14 horse field competing under his name.
Bold Mac looks the best of his runners, rock hard fit having already had 12 runs this calendar year. He’s coming off five runs between 1800m-2000m, winning the last two, and drops back to 1600m now. He’ll camp right on the speed from a good draw, and be tough to defeat.
Stablemate Pretty Amazing, a mare that has a touch of class about her, will also have admirers. She does tend to get back in her races, so an inside draw might not be a positive, and it’s hard to know what she’ll produce first-up for eight weeks.
Logan Street Lion is another of Waller’s, beaten just over two lengths by Bold Mac last time out, but now in receipt of an appreciable weight swing. The question is whether that 3.5kg’s can make up the difference. He’s in the game somewhere.
Of the rest of the stable’s runners, this must be the 10th time Polly Gray has accepted since her last start in December, yet keeps getting scratched, while Manzoice was a surprise VRC Derby winner that did nothing in the autumn and will be a hard horse to place. Longvillers has been disappointing since arriving in Australia, and we’ll see Gan Teorainn step out for the first time.
Tazaral has won two in a row since resuming, and will be looking to make it three on end for the Snowden camp. He’s a lightly raced six-year-old that seems to have settled on a mile as his best distance. Having come through benchmark grade, he has earned his crack at Listed level.
Protagonist is first-up into his second Australian campaign for Kris Lees. He won a good race in fine style first-up in March, but that was over 2000m with 55kg’s, and now he has to carry 60kg’s at 1600m. Will he be sharp enough under that impost?
Ruby Flyer is one of five horses currently quoted between $5.50-$7, showing what an open race this is. He is perhaps the most progressive of the lot, having won four of his last five by good margins across the country circuit. This is by far his stiffest test yet, but no-one will be surprised if he makes the leap.
There are a few horses engaged that don’t mind going forward, but no out-and-out leaders among them, so there may well be some jockeying for position in the early stages. As can often happen in these sort of affairs, the run of the race may well win the day.
Selections: 1.Ruby Flyer 2.Bold Mac 3.Logan Street Lion 4.Tazaral
RUBY FLYER
EACH-WAY
* Odds Correct At Time Of Posting. Check Playup Website For Latest Odds
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