Midweek Erudition

Metropolitan midweek racing remains out wide for the third week running, with Wyong today’s venue. Hosting provincial clubs rarely offer their full track, and the rail placement is just short of the maximum at 3m, with no cutaway.

I anticipate on-pace to be the place, suiting runners settling in the first four. Ideal positions are leading or one-out-one back.

A curious aspect of city meetings conducted elsewhere is the pre-eminence of city/city form over city/provincial form. I’ve previously observed it best to ignore out-of-town metro form returning to the city, but I maintain that the city meetings at Kembla and Gosford in the past fortnight need to be treated as inferior for a similarly statured programme such as today.

Race 2, a maiden for 3yos over 1100m sees the reappearance from a let-up of the Pride-trained filly LADY CARNOUSTIE. Her 3 city runs have been rock solid and she boasts TERRAVISTA, TIGER TEES and BALL OF MUSCLE as uncles.

I fear that her kiwi upbringing may cramp her turn of foot. Her danger, NOT A CHERRY, emanates from the slickest provincial maiden in recent times, and promises to be hard to catch.

Race 3 is the programme’s highlight; seven talented 3yos over the 1200m course, four of them Wyong winners. DEPLOY came to Wyong ten days ago wearing blinkers to get him back on track, but may be less effective at this trip, ESCHIELE returned well on the same day. But it is the Snowden-trained MARAAM that lifts this analyst’s spirit; depth first-up, demoralisation second-up. Her stablemate TAP THIS, returns to the scene of her debut win with a tongue-tie applied and a sackful of solid city SPs,

The nightcap, Race 7, is today’s barrel sediment; 3yos barred and 67 the line. The only two last-start city runners LIBERTY ISLAND and NAZCA carry the gun postilions. Their job is to ward off the only last-start winner and improver MORELLO.

@justideal