3 minute read

The Darren Weir-trained Nikitas is hardly a prolific winner but The Melbourne Mail has him pegged as a horse with wins in store this preparation.

Nikitas was tested against the better horses early in his career which put a nice dent in his strike rate but he did prove himself handy and his first up win at Warrnambool for Darren Weir was the win of a horse with plenty more to offer.

He has run second twice since then - including when well-fancied by The Melbourne Mail at Sandown - which could be seen as a shade disappointing but he's run into two good winners and importantly his ratings have continued to edge in the right direction from that first up win.

His upward-spiralling ratings profile lands him at the head of proceedings (on recent form) in race six at Caulfield and we aren't expecting him to go backwards now.

Longeron is another one that has found himself in the Melbourne Mail in recent weeks. He went to the Valley looking well set up last time but an expected strong tempo boiled over a touch and he was left out of gas over the last 100m.

Coming back to 1800m should pose him no problems and again he finds a race where the map looks favourable for him. He hasn't been able to find his top this campaign but he's not miles from it and at around $9.00 he represents a good each way bet from where he is going to land in the running.

The Melbourne Mail

Bet Of The Day: Race 6 #2 Nikitas @ $4.60

Each Way Play: Race 9 #7 Longeron @ $9.00