Jumping goes to Sale on Wednesday for a rare meeting in the Gippsland region of Victoria. While the Western District is the spiritual home of jumping in Victoria, a large proportion of the horse population is based in Cranbourne or even further east, so the more jumps meetings in this part of the world, the better.
Sale is a beautiful spacious track with a long home straight and every horse gets their chance. Expect the track to be heavy.
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Race 1 – E-Cycle Solutions Maiden Hurdle (3280m), 12.10pm
This is a two horse race between Twin Spinner and Gravistas. Twin Spinner was a late scratching last week at Hamilton much to your correspondent’s regret, and his credentials remain strong for this race. Gravistas did run last week at Hamilton and finished third behind Tolemac and Mighty Oasis. It was an excellent run considering it was tough to come from off speed that day. If it is genuinely heavy 10 ground I’d lean towards Twin Spinner, if better than that, Gravistas.
Strategy: Watch the track and weather.
Race 2 – E-Cycle Solutions 0-114 Hurdle, 3280m (12.50pm)
This is really tough. I think any of Hey Happy, Cernan and Onset could win without surprising. I reckon Yulong Rising is under the odds. Small lean to Onset at the price.
Strategy: Back Onset (small).
Race 3 – E-Cycle Solutions Open Steeplechase, 3280m (1.30pm)
If Valac is back to his best he is close to the best ‘chaser in work in Australia at present. Talking through my pocket somewhat but if he hadn’t made a mess of the second last fence I think he would have bolted in the Brierly. He’s had a steeplechase trial since that suggests he is back to his best. Remarkably he’s never seen heavy ground in his 49 career starts but I think he will handle it.
Strategy: Back Valac (best bet).
