Mr Brightside will take his Australian debut at Bendigo this afternoon, and a recent trial performance at Flemington suggested he is ready to go.
The former Kiwi had just one start during his debut prep and while he did race greenly, he kept all of his best work for late and finished fifth.
With even luck today, this looks a nice launchpad for him.
The Lion Inside has also had just one career start so far, but there was a lot to like about her effort at Geelong, and she can break through for her first win today.
The Savabeel filly showed ability at the trials prior to debuting and ran home well to finish third, beaten just over half a length by Double Chance.
I’m expecting good improvement for that experience, and she can fight out the finish again.
He hasn’t shown his best form at his last two efforts, but this is a decent drop in class for Furioso and I am eager to take on race favourite Jukila.
Furioso has returned some nice efforts since making his debut and even though he wasn’t competitive, there’s no doubt that he has stripped fitter for starts at Caulfield and Flemington.
This looks to be a far more appropriate task for him, and I am happy to give him another chance.
This is one of the more open contests on today’s Bendigo program, and a horse like Dinga has claims on winning at a nice price ($9 at publish).
Dinga filled the minors at Cranbourne when fresh before recording an impressive win at The ‘Bool, and he was far from disgraced when fifth behind the likes of Esta La Roca at Sandown last time.
This is a drop in class from that race and we can have an each-way play at the quote.