Winning Moves @ Scone

Published: 16 May 2015

Happy winners - Owners of Artlee were excited after he caught Oxford Poet late

There were a couple of big surprises today at Scone, but it was mostly fair racing overall. A touch of track bias to horses off the rails was well-navigated by most of the jockeys.

So with no excuses, what did it take for us to find all eight winners on the card?

Race 1 – “Best Horse Wins”

FLIPPANT had the best form before the race, but there was some risk with a couple of talented first-uppers.

Having faith in racetrack form paid dividends. The money came in and she won by panels.

Race 2 – “Weights and Measures”

Handicap racing can throw a few curve balls your way and members of The Race Guide’s Analyst Team got taught a lesson by a horse from Dubbo here.

LEADERS ROAD carried only 51kg to an easy win on the line.

He got a weight turnaround on a few horses in the market and his form had improved since.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing!

Race 3 – “Best Horse Wins”

Baker’s ENCOSTANTI is a horse that races well fresh, trialled well and brought good ratings to the race.

He travelled like the best sprinter all through the run.

Race 4 – “Jockey Class and Luck”

Brenton Avdulla is riding in rare form at the moment.

His ride on locally-trained mare IN A WINK made the difference, runner-up FINE MIST stuck out five-wide the entire race.

The filly sprinted well fresh after getting a perfect trail a few horses off the fence.

Race 5 – “Best Horse Wins”

ARTLEE dominated the Country Championships, a big ‘head-strong’ horse with lots of talent.

His form-lines measured up well, but you had to take the risk he wouldn’t over-race, especially when usual jockey Mitchell Bell got injured early in the day.

Bensley did the job nicely in the end, ARTLEE was much too strong on the line.

Race 6 – “New Trainer, New Form”

DIVERTIRE was a miler or middle-distance type for Guy Walter and since Jo Pride took over things have steadily changed.

He completed the transformation with this surprise win today.

Following Jo’s record might have tempted us into a bet, he’s got a stable full of strong sprinters.

Race 7 - "Stable Confidence and Luck"

The stable were very confident LOVED UP was at her peak, a mare that rated as an each-way chance in the race.

She did the job nicely as favourite SURE AND FAST was blocked badly in the run.

Race 8 - "Speed and Power"

A lot of Analysts were keen to back swoopers in the last race with a strong tempo forecast.

You can't underestimate pure speed horses though and THAT'S A GOOD IDEA is about as powerful as they come.

Betting on him to out-speed the back-markers paid good odds.

Too fast in the last - Bowan comes back to scale on That's A Good Idea