MELBOURNE has copped a bit of rain this week and, combined with the cold weather, has caused the Flemington track to be fairly soft for tomorrow’s meeting.
At the time of writing, the track was rated heavy 8 and it should stay about that mark through the eight-race program.
Most races tomorrow are worth $80,000, although one is worth $100,000 and the Group 3 Aurie’s Star Handicap, the race I’m previewing, is worth $150,000.
As we said last week, spring is in the air and we are starting to see some of the better horses hit the track.
Some of the horses racing tomorrow will likely feature in Group 1 races over longer distances in the spring, so it’s worth keeping an eye on their progress.
One horse worth watching is three-year-old colt Mulaazem in the first.
Trained by Peter Moody, the half-brother to Sepoy won by an impressive 10 lengths last start on a heavy 10 at Sandown and meets Saturday company for the first time.
Without doing the form on the race, the $2 you can get about him looks to be pretty generous.
Having said that, though, he wasn’t highly regarded by the stable last start (Vlad Duric rode him while Luke Nolen rode a stablemate), meaning that performance might have been a shock to many.
The race I’m previewing tomorrow is the Group 3 Aurie’s Star Handicap, which is raced down the straight over 1200m.
Racing Victoria freelancer Brad Bishop wrote a good story on Aurie's Star, a champion of the 1930s and '40s, for the RV website. You can find it by clicking HERE
