February 11 Racing Selections
Tips for this weekend cover the February 11 meetings at Caulfield (featuring the champion Black Caviar in the Group 1 CF Orr Stakes) and Rosehill (featuring the Group 2 Expressway Stakes).
Final report card for 2011 and revised rules for 2012 tips
Results for February 4 selections
Tips which were either scratched, outside the prescribed track conditions or too short in price
Scratched – Olinoor
Odds too short (less than $6 SP) – Royal Mail
Tips where the SP was in the $6-$9.50 range (1 unit bets)
Wealthy Lad ($6.50 SP) – second
Ocsmepop ($6.00) – unplaced
February 4 results: 2 selections, 2 units bet, no winners
2012 overall results: 6 selections, 6 units bet, no winners
Tips where the SP was in the $10+ range (0.5 unit bets)
Nil
February 4 results: No selections, no winners
2012 overall results: 2 selections, 1 unit bet, no winners
Overall Results
February 4: 2 selections, 2 units bet, no winners
2012: 10 selections, 9 units bet, no winners
Saturday February 11
Caulfield (tips based on a track rating range of good 2 to dead 5)
Race 4 No. 13 Vivid Vixen
Hers was a complete ‘forgive’ run first-up when she never got a clear crack at them behind Southern Speed two weeks ago. Importantly, if you remove five fist-up runs from her career, you’re left with 14 starts for eight wins and four placings, including two wins and a third from three runs second up. She has two wins and two placings from five starts at the mile, has black type wins to her name already and with 55 kilos gets the best of the weights coming out of that race a fortnight ago.
Race 7 No. 4 First Command
With Karuta Queen likely to be very short odds for a horse who has never won outside her own age group, I’m happy to look further up the weights to this galloper. A last start winner down the straight at Flemington, he returns to his favourite stomping ground this time around – five wins and two placings from nine starts at the track, including two wins from three starts at the track/ trip (with the one ‘miss’ being in the Group 1 Oakleigh Plate). He also meets Decircles and Weekend Special better at the weights for defeating them last start.
Rosehill (tips based on a track rating range of dead 4 to slow 7)
Race 9 No. 1 Rangirangdoo
How quickly we all forget – 21 starts, ten wins, nine placings, a proven Group 1 performer. He has three wins and three seconds from seven at the track, as well as a win and two placings at the trip. The kicker for me is the two barrier trials leading into this race, suggesting that he may be quite forward in terms of race fitness for this one. The odds-on favourite Rain Affair has been beating all comers thus far and doing it well, but this is the first time he’ll meet a bona fide elite galloper – at the prices on offer, I will happily take the proven commodity.
Race 11 No. 1 Mr Unforgettable
His last two runs have been very sound behind Temple Of Boom and Cabernet, and he is certainly a galloper who is seen to advantage on wet tracks. He has a win and two placings at the track/ trip and with only 55.5 kilos after the claim is well in at the weights. With three early scratchings already notified, he comes into barrier nine and may sneak in one or two more come race day, so the gate should be less of an issue than it may appear at first glance. I’m expecting his class to prevail here.
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Thanks to Matt King/Getty Images AsiaPac for use of the photo
