Welcome to Weekend Winners, your one-stop tipping sheet for Saturday's big meetings.
MEMSIE STAKES TIP – YANKEE ROSE (Caulfield - Race 7 No. 12) – We’re rolling the dice and going with this classy mare that’s resuming from a spell. We realise she’s been off the scene for an extended period but she’s been in work for around four months and we expect David Vandyke will have her ready. Time to go through the form – Her previous fresh runs show she won on debut then off a spell ran second in a Golden Slipper, fair effort that. In her last prep in the spring of last year she was beaten 3-1/2 lengths first-up in the Golden Rose but if you remember back she was struggling in her trials leading up to that while that has not been the case coming into this prep. Let’s not also forget she was good enough to finish on Hartnell’s hammer in Winx’s Cox Plate romp last year. At double figure odds on Saturday she’s worth a ticket.
STAR BET – HANDSOME THIEF (Caulfield - Race 3 No. 15) – We’re being forgiving of this Darren Weir-trained entire’s first-up run on the genuine heavy at Sandown. Go back and review his previous two wins at Moonee Valley last prep and remind yourself what a progressive galloper that could rise to stakes class looks like. He’s been freshened since the first-up failure, he’s drawn a favourable gate and Brad Rawiller takes over the steering duties on Saturday. There’s also been some solid early support which would indicate some good judges expect him to turn it around on Saturday and we’re with them.
VALUE TIP – MIAMI DADE (Randwick – Race 3 No. 8) – He’s found himself in a winnable race on Saturday after the scratching of Up ‘N’ Rolling. This former Godolphin galloper in now with highly-respected former Godolphin employee Brad Widdup, who joined the training ranks in his own right in recent months and judging by his early results there will be no looking back. How about this for a start to a training career – 29 runners for a return of 10 winners at a strike rate of 34.5 percent. That shows the bloke can train so now to the horse. Miami Dade won two starts back in a benchmark 70 at Scone then last time out he was beaten less than two lengths by the inform Sir Barb when carrying 59.5kg. On Saturday, he drops to 55kg but the key factor we think is in his favour is the favours he gets on the map. The race is full of backmarkers, meaning Miami Dade will be able to do his own thing on the speed, doing no favours to his rivals and give you a kick and a good sight for an $18 chance.
AUSSIE CRICKET TIP – PAYROLL (Doomben Race 4 No. 1) – We weren’t going to let these blokes off the hook after their embarrassing defeat by Bangladesh this week. They carried on like, in the words of the Courier Mail on Friday, "overpaid, over-rated, pampered, prima donnas” during their long-protracted pay dispute and in their first meaningful game since they get rolled by a minnow. We think Payroll is perfect for them on Saturday, obviously because of her name but she has to carry a massive weight of 62kg after the claim, something our national heroes now have to do with their bulging wallets. She’s back from a let-up on Saturday but she’s a good performer fresh and there looks decent speed in the race which will play into her hands. At the double-figure odds she’s worth the gamble because she’s a trier.
PULL RANK TIP – INVINCIBLE GEM (Randwick - Race 8 No. 7) – We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, when both Pa and Clint are tipping the same horse, it’s a pointless exercise to challenge them in the Weekend Winners team meeting. This Kris Lees-trained mare was stunning in her seasonal return when powering past Le Romain in the Missile Stakes. She maps to get the right run again on Saturday and the prospect of a soft tempo is likely to limit the genuine winning contenders. If she runs up to her first-up performance, she’ll be hard to hold out here.
FOLLOW THE TREND TIP – AMRALAH (Caulfield Race 8 No. 4) – This is a bit of guess work but when they are $21 you don’t have to have much on. Roll back the clock to his last preparation when he was beaten more than 10 lengths first-up. They then sent him across the border to run in the Listed Tokyo Stakes and he thumped them over 1800m before being disqualified. This preparation he gets thrashed first-up so from where we sit it’s not going to be a shock to see him jump out of the ground on Saturday. We know he’s high class when right and he wouldn’t be here if that wasn’t the case.
STATS TIP – CASINO WIZARD (Morphettville Race 7 No. 4) – Our South Australian form men thought he did a super job when resuming in the Spring Stakes. Being more speed in a 1200m event, he was forced to work overtime to find his spot early and that effort told late after giving a good kick on the turn. This time he gets to 1400m making his wide draw easier to offset. We concede he’s unproven at the trip but what we really like is he’s won four times from six second-up starts and he’s five from 13 on soft rated tracks. He has enough class to place in the Goodwood last prep and this looks an ideal target to strike.
