Wicked Wench will have her first start in Australia at Hawkesbury this afternoon and will take a power of beating. The daughter of Dalghar and former Kiwi has only had one career start but showed a nice turn of foot to run on for second, and she has returned two pleasing trials in the lead-up to this race. There doesn’t look to be a whole lot of depth in this maiden and I’ll be happy to take anything north of even money.
Vox Populi was impressive on debut and looks well placed to continue her rise through the grades at Hawkesbury this afternoon. The three-year-old daughter of Choisir mustered an eye-catching turn of foot to beat a field of maidens over the 900m course at Newcastle on debut, and she’ll only improve from the experience, and getting slightly further out in trip. This only a small field and I can’t find a reason why she can’t win again.
Phoenix River hasn’t been seen at the races since May, but he typically raced in tougher company than he strikes first-up at Hawkesbury today and can make a winning return. The four-year-old son found good form around a number of good horses last time in, including Manikato Stakes fancy Trope and was unlucky not to break his maiden. He’s drawn a peach today and looks ready to go after a nice trial at Randwick.
Accordingly has improved for two starts this time and is ready to win at Ballarat this afternoon. The Ocean Park mare resumed with a fair effort to finish third over a mile at Cranbourne, before finishing second behind Pressure at this track and distance last time. She’ll take further improvement into this race and has options from an inside draw. ($7 at publish).