Mandela Effect has returned to racing in blistering form this time and strikes another winnable one at Caulfield this afternoon. The Tasmanian raider put together two easy wins in his home state before crossing Bass Strait for another smart performance and triumph over 1300m at Bendigo. He’s rock-hard fit and drawn beautifully in barrier 6 and with even luck in running, he’ll prove extremely hard to beat.
River Jewel has form around some good horses this time and looks well placed in this afternoon’s Gold Distaff. The Snitzel mare hasn’t finished outside of the places in her five most-recent starts and put together two impressive wins before finishing second behind Miss Siska in the Gold Bracelet at Bendigo last time out. That horse has since come out and run fourth in a Group 1 race and this looks the perfect feature target for River Jewel.
Irithea will take plenty of benefit into her second-up run at Hawkesbury this afternoon and is primed for a return to winning form. The Bjorn Baker-trained mare has been a strong and consistent performer throughout her entire racing career so far and hit the line well to finish second in the Group 2 Sapphire Stakes on Day 2 of The Championships. This is an easier race and she’s drawn to receive all the favours from barrier 4.
Kaonic failed to beat a runner home in the Group 3 Doncaster Prelude last time out, but clearly didn’t handle the heavy going and will relish a return to racing on top of the ground this afternoon. The Savabeel entire ran on well to finish fourth in the Group 2 Ajax Stakes (1500m) two starts back and there is no doubt that he’ll take improvement into this; his fourth campaign appearance. He looks an each-way chance in a wide-open edition of the Hawkesbury Gold Cup.