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Chow Meow gets his chance to break through this afternoon at Benalla in the Rambling Rose Maiden Plate (1206m) after two second placings since resuming.
Photo by Racing and Sports
The Robbie Griffiths-trained three-year-old missed narrowly resuming at Stony Creek beaten less than a length after a sustained wide run for home, before running into boom debutant Great Lane.
Chow Meow settled third in the run on the fence, peeled out wide but was simply no match for the winner finishing two lengths away.
Both runs netted a weight-adjusted Timeform rating of 64.
Without Great Lane in this one, he can grab a maiden victory. Ryan Maloney stays in the saddle, and he just needs to keep a cool head from barrier 11.
The son of Tale Of The Cat isn’t quite in the last-chance saloon as yet, but if he’s going to enjoy a winning career as a race horse he’d want to be winning a race like this rather soon.
Johnny Guitar shapes as the biggest danger after an impressive debut second at Bendigo last month, before running eight pounds below that when fourth at Echuca.
Brad Rawiller takes the ride today which is a positive sign so don’t be surprised to see him back to his Bendigo form.
Watch out for the resuming Game Of Shadows from the Ellerton-Zahra yard.
He finished last campaign with an impressive second in the wet at Ballarat and could well be bold coming back in today.
Should Chow Meow get the chocolates, there’s more money to be made in the Mitchelton Wines Maiden Plate (1606m).
Favourite Eiffelman has been scratched opening the door for the Kate Goodrich’s lightly raced Master Luca.
He ran third last start at Echuca over 1400m, 3.5L off the impressive Air Striker.
That earned him a weight-adjusted Timeform figure of 64 which looks to be around the mark of what’ll be needed to win this one today.
He’s drawn poorly but there have been a few scratchings so he’ll come in a little bit. With some luck he should be right in the mix.
David Hayes can leave his mark on this race with Bernardini gelding Waafid, although he’s gone a fraction off the boil in his last couple.
Earlier on this campaign his Timeform figures were strong but he’s been more than four lengths off in his last three.
He’ll need to improve but he’s placed at this track and this trip before, and can certainly do so.
With stable jockey Chad Schofield jumping back aboard he certainly can’t be overlooked.