Races

Simon O’Donnell – Zipping Classic

Group racing moves to Sandown on Saturday and it’s a really interesting meet, again. The two races we’re going to concentrate on are the Sandown Guineas and also the Zipping Classic.

Zipping Classic, weight for age, over a mile and a half. I think all the form for this race is going to come out of the Melbourne Cup.

Beautiful Romance, I thought was a really even run in the Cup, and with her form in Europe being at top level at 2400m, I think she’s going to be hard to beat in the Zipping Classic on Saturday.

Who Shot Thebarman, what a grand campaigner he is. A strong win in the race last year and I think he will be competitive again. And after an even Spring from Almoonqith, tomorrow may be the day he really finds his mojo and is competitive in what is a tough 2400m at Sandown.

The other race we’re looking at is the Sandown Guineas. I really think Morton’s Fork, after his wonderful run in the Carbine Club on Day 1 of the Flemington Carnival, is going to be desperately hard to beat. You’re not going to get a lot of action from an odds perspective, but he looks like a horse on the up.

An interesting runner is #2, Benz, stepping up in trip for the first time to the 1600m journey. Fingers crossed that he has the capabilities of running to that level. His pedigree would suggest so, and if he runs a good 1600m, he might take some running down late.

And Ruthven, trained by Ciaron Maher, only had a couple of starts but has been impressive in each of those and a big step up in grade but could make his presence felt over the 1600m, and of course the stable is in form.

My SuperPick is Beautiful Romance in the Zipping Classic, and I’ll take the 25% Profit Plus option for the win.

Good luck to everyone on what is the final day of what has been a wonderful carnival.

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