Healesville is set to host a cracking final of the Victorian Straight Track Championship today, featuring one of the biggest names in the sport, Ferdinand Boy.
The dual country cups winner will be short in betting, but it’s worth noting that Utah Ghost was the fastest heat winner last week in 18.93sec REPLAY, 1.5L superior to Ferdinand Boy’s winning time REPLAY.
The brilliant Coolant (11 from 19) will also go around at Healesville today.
There will be plenty of interest in how Weblec Blazer (5 from 16) performs in his Sandown Park debut after his breathtaking 29.65sec Best of Night win on last weekend’s Maturity Classic night, when his winning time eclipsed those of Aston Rupee and Qwara Bale.
In the opening event at Sale tonight, watch for 22-month-old first starter Blazin’ Lass, who is out of Group 1 Sandown Cup winner, Bells Are Ringin’.
Later on the card, Zachary (8 from 14 at Track) steps up to 520m for the first time at his favourite track.
Here’s an extensive analysis of today’s Must Watch Race, and be sure to scroll down further for ? The Watchdog’s $10 spend…
? MUST-WATCH RACE: Victorian Straight Track Championship Final
HELLO GEORGE ? SMART AS JACK ? FERDINAND BOY ? UTAH GHOST
? Healesville ? Race 6 ? 350m ⏱ 12:42pm
Form ? https://watchdog.grv.org.au/meeting/666538421/race/6
The Watchdog says ?: Cracking line-up and although FERDINAND BOY (5) comes into this with the biggest reputation, he is not going to have things all his own way. He was not great to begin in his heat, however he did balance up quickly and scored impressively in a smart 19.06sec. With a wide runner on his outside and keen railer on his inside today, he should get plenty of room early and I would expect him to find one or two lengths on the clock and that will see him figure in the finish. UTAH GHOST (6) broke the magical 19 seconds barrier in his heat win and if given room initially, he will take some stopping again. He has gone 6.54sec and 6.50sec to the first marker in his two wins here of late, and something similar today will see him settle in the top three initially. SMART AS JACK (4) is another one of the ‘big guns’ and he was brilliant when placed behind FERDINAND BOY last week. The slight concern today is that there is plenty of pace drawn either side of him, so he cannot afford to make any mistakes at box rise. Track specialist HELLO GEORGE (3) has struggled a little in recent weeks when taking on elite company and he appears to be up against it again today. If there is to be an upset, it may come from UNTESTED (7). He has been brilliant in three of his past four here and he likes to stay wide on the track, so if there is some bunching underneath, he could be there to capitalise.
Selections: 5 – 6 – 7 – 1
