All races and selections have been updated at 10.15 a.m. Belmont is expecting light showers later this afternoon but it should not affect the selections unless it goes past soft 5 which we doubt.
The Brisbane Carnival is well and truly coming to a close but the races today remain challenging. We work on the best race times and performances and then make allowance for recent form and so on. For example, we have rerated Big Duke today, he was 4th in the 2017 Melbourne Cup over 3200 and today is 3000. On “class” alone and distance ability he should win but he too is coming to the end of a prep while Vow And Declare is clearly an up and coming type improving with every run but will it be so hot over the untried distance of 3000 metres? Today we find out. Many of the other runners while in form are coming from Benchmark races.
It’s a similar case with the Tiara. Some mares are coming to the end of their preparation while others e.g. Winter Bride, are being managed to peak on the day. It is common after the winetr carnival for horses to remain in Queensland for their winter spell while others are already out and prepping for the Spring, the first of those races are only 8 weeks away.
Have a good day today. Don’t forget Vicbet.com for Best Of The Best on all of todays races but get on early as BOB comes off once prerace limits are filled. Even so Top Fluc remains available right up until 30 minutes before the race, and for Jumps enthusiasts, if your runner falls, you get up to $100 back on request.