Races

Deane Lester’s Moonee Valley Best Bets

Posted on | Posted by Deane Lester

Deane Lester’s Best Bets

RACE 7 NO.4 DOWNDRAFT

The Moonee Valley Gold Cup (2500m) looks a terrific race for imported galloper DOWNDRAFT to make a winning debut in Australia. The son of Camelot has won six of his 16 starts to date and comes off a brave last start second behind Melbourne Cup aspirant SOUTHERN FRANCE in the Irish St Leger Trial (2816m) on August 16. He is enjoying a good season of racing and drops significantly in weight off his last run. The five year old needs a win to advance his chances of a start in the Melbourne Cup and looks well placed to achieve that.

RACE 9 NO.9 LYS GRACIEUX

The feature race is the Cox Plate (2040m) and the Japanese trained horses look set to dominate again with LYS GRACIEUX a deserved favourite and clearly the one to beat. Fresh off success in last week’s Caulfield Cup with MER DE GLACE, rider Damian Lane and the Japanese connections look to have the right horse to win another major on the back of her form in this calendar year. Her runs in Hong Kong have been first rate and she comes off a last start win at Group one level over 2200 metres at Hanshin on June 23. She’s a versatile horse that can be ridden anywhere in the field and possesses a powerful turn of speed when required. She just needs reasonable luck and LYS GRACIEUX should dominate this race and win.

RACE 10 NO.5 AMANGIRI

Talented mare AMANGIRI should be fitter for two runs this campaign and looks the best bet of the day when she contests the Tesio Stakes (1600m). The Team Hawkes trained four year old led and ran a brave 3rd behind NETTOYER in the Angst Quality (1600m) at Randwick on October 12. That was a very fast race and she was only caught in the final stages. This looks the best formline for this race and she has the capacity to make her own luck which makes her the standout bet of the day.

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