Bletchingly Stakes Day is always a highlight of the winter months and Caulfield will play host to the exciting nine-race card on Saturday!
I’ve had a look into the form of every horse stepping out, and you can find a preview for every race and all of my Bletchingly Stakes Day tips below.
There are worse ways to start a Saturday of racing than with a contest dubbed the ‘Neds Handicap’ and a fittingly smart field has been taken.
Tavidance has improved for two starts this time and I can’t find a reason why he won’t be in the finish again.
The Tavistock gelding stripped fitter with a fair effort for third behind Minyinga at Sandown when resuming and was last seen winning a BM78 race here at Caulfield by two lengths.
Getting out to a mile is ideal and he’ll take beating.
This is a pretty difficult edition of the Gold Ingot to analyse from a betting perspective and there is a case to be made for several, but I’m going to stick with the second-up Flinders River.
Flinders River returned four competitive efforts during his debut prep, highlighted by a credible fourth behind subsequent Group 1 winner Tagaloa at The Valley.
He’ll take good improvement for a fair first-up effort for fifth at Sandown and the booking of Craig Williams to ride is positive.
Our Campana was an impressive winner in her first start for Peter Moody and I think that she can keep alive her unbeaten run for the trainer on Saturday.
Formerly with Colin Little, the Bel Esprit mare has recorded six wins and a further three minors from just thirteen career starts, and she is another horse that will only improve into Saturday’s appearance.
She gets a nice relief in the weights with Campbell Rawiller’s claim and has options from the rails draw.
I concede that Persan looks the one to beat in this race, but he gives weight to a lot of good horses and I do think that he’ll need to go to another level.
For the reason, I’m instead going to follow last-start winner Grinzinger Allee.
Grinzinger Allee hasn’t run a bad race this preparation and finished a close-up second behind Walking Flying in the Silver Bowl Final at HQ two back, before beating a decent field with ease over 2025 at Cranbourne last time out.
He’s untested at a mile and a half, but everything suggests that he gets it.
Beatrix has returned some nice efforts recently and is up to winning the fifth at Caulfield on Saturday.
The Smart Missile filly has missed a place just once in five career starts and returned to winning form with an eye-catching effort at Sandown two back, before running a length third here a fortnight ago.
She looks to be at peak fitness for this contest and is drawn to receive a lovely run.
This is another excellent race, but I’m going to stick with Morrissy.
The Snitzel entire required a couple of runs to tune up when resuming this time, but stormed home to only just miss Ashlor at The Valley three back, before returning to winning form in a similar race to this.
He was last seen finishing a couple of lengths from the winner at this track and distance, but he is rock-hard fit, Craig Williams stays aboard, and I am happy to give him another chance.
The Bletchingly Stakes is always a great contest and it appears as though there will be no exception to that rule on Saturday.
A lot was made of Jungle Edge’s performance and win in the Group 3 Sir John Monash two weeks ago and I absolutely am not disagreeing. He is an absolute marvel, particularly for his age.
In that race however, Viridine made up plenty of ground to only just miss and given we’re back to a soft track on Saturday (rather than heavy), I think that this is his race to lose.
Viridine has been an excellent horse for Godolphin throughout his career and has returned many typically pleasing performances this time, highlighted by a smart win in the Winter Dash at Randwick two back.
He’s drawn a peach and can return to winning form.
I think this looks a lovely feature race for Mahamedeis.
Mahamedeis has been the stable star for Nick Ryan for several seasons now and has returned some typically tough performances this time, beating a smart field over 2000m here most notably and finding form around some good stayers.
I like that he’s a few weeks between runs and that he has trialled since his last race.
Mystery Shot is yet to taste anything but success and it would take a braver man than me to take him on.
The Lindsay Smith-trained gelding is four from four and has continued to improve with each effort, as the bar has been raised this time, culminating in a dominant win here last time.
He’s been charged with carrying just 2.5kgs more than his rivals and he is drawn a peach.