Pedicel will return from a brief freshen-up at Sandown today and is over the odds at her current price ($8.50 at the time of publish). The Redoute’s Choice filly immediately stamped herself as a horse to follow when she broke her maiden in her first competitive appearance in May, before running a credible fourth amongst decent company over 1400m at Rosehill in June. She made a commendable transition to black type company when fourth in the Listed Taj Rossi Series Final (1600m) and will enjoy the step back in class today.
Tarabai has not been seen at the races since March, but she is a horse with good ability and is a proven first-up performer. The daughter of Sepoy worked through the grades effectively upon debuting in January; winning over 1100m first-up at Hawkesbury before finishing second at her first run in city company. The filly returned to winning form with a dominant performance at Warwick Farm third-up, before taking her place in the Listed Darby Munro field, albeit an unsuccessful performance. This is a big step back in class and she looks ready to fire after winning a trial at Rosehill last week.
Tin Hat will strip fitter into his second-up task this afternoon and will be extremely difficult to beat. The Helmet colt debuted with a credible performance for second at Newcastle in February, before easily breaking his maiden at Ballarat. Having returned to the paddock after running a credible fifth in the Group 2 VRC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m), Tin Hat clearly required the run when he worked home fairly for third at Sale a fortnight ago, but will enjoy a step up in trip today.
Veranillo has been charged with carrying topweight in the last at Canterbury today, but he has a class edge over his rivals and will take wholesale improvement into what is his second-up run. The son of Medaglia D’oro has typically raced in tougher company than he finds in Sydney today and was settled towards the tail of the field at Geelong first-up; working home well when he was finally offered clear running to finish a credible fifth. The booking of in-form hoop Rachel King is a big positive today and the horse can finish over the top of his rivals, at a great price.