Australian Racing: By The Book to write new chapter

There are five meetings set to take place on Thursday including two meetings in Victoria, with both Ararat and Pakenham scheduled to stage racing action.

Race 8 Pakenham

Panigale @ 9.00

Race 6 Gosford

She Conquers @ 3.20

Race 6 Ararat

By The Book @ 10.00

Panigale to triumph at Pakenham

The finale at Pakenham is a 1200m Benchmark 58 handicap expected to take place on a good 4 surface.

Lloyd Kennewell & Lucy Yeomans-trained Kokako is expected to jump as favourite having shown up well in both previous starts.

The filly broke through for her first win when saluting by nearly a length in a 1340m maiden at Geelong in September.

Racing on a good 3 track that day, the filly came home in front in a 12-runner contest with the daughter of Swiss Ace spelled following that effort.

The four-year-old returned to action with a good second in a Class 2 handicap over 1250m when racing on the Parks track at Morphettville and she holds obvious claims with Blake Shinn up.

A double-figure barrier isn’t ideal here however and preference is for PANIGALE for the Mick Price & Michael Kent Jr team.

The three-year-old registered a maiden victory over 1000m at Morphettville Parks at the end of November and he has made two starts since then.

Both of those efforts have seen the pick finished held in metro contests including down the straight at Flemington in the 1100m Cirka Plate earlier this month.

Panigale was beaten four-and-a-half-lengths in finishing seventh of eight having jumped at $21 that day and he tackles this trip for the first time since his debut in June last year.

Luke Cartwright takes a valuable two-kilograms off the gelding’s back and, with an inside alley and blinkers returning, he is taken to record the second win of his career.

She Conquers to salute at Gosford

A soft 7 surface is expected for Gosford’s seven-race card with the penultimate event a 1000m Benchmark 64 handicap.

Sneaky Sofia is expected to have her supporters, having registered wins in two of her last five starts.

Those wins include a first up success by over a length when contesting an 1100m Class 1 handicap held on a good 4 surface at Port Macquarie at the end of December.

That marked the three-year-old’s second win of the season, having broken her maiden on a soft 7 track at Newcastle at the start of August.

The youngster gets a welcome drop in grade following an 1100m seventh in a Benchmark 72 handicap at Rosehill in January.

While Anna Roper’s mount should find this event much easier, preference is for SHE CONQUERS, who caught the eye in winning by half-a-length at Hawkesbury in December.

The filly finished strongly to register her first victory when contesting a 1000m maiden on a good 4 track on that occasion.

While the pick has yet to race on a soft 7 surface, she did perform well when debuting with a third on a soft 6 at Kembla Grange last June.

Trained By Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou, She Conquers defied a double-figure barrier when winning last time out and barrier four is a positive in this event.

A recent barrier trial is expected to have put the daughter of Unite And Conquer spot on for this contest and, having gone well first up in the past, she looks up to resuming with a win.

By The Book to record second-up success

The sixth race at Ararat is a 1306m Benchmark 58 handicap expected to take place on a good 4 track.

Tony & Calvin McEvoy’s lightly-raced filly BY THE BOOK missed the whole of 2024, having broken her maiden over 1200m at Warracknabeal in September 2023.

This four-year-old came home nearly two-lengths clear of her rivals when racing on a good 4 track that day and she returned to action with a seventh at Ballarat earlier this month.

The Written By filly was beaten just over four lengths in a nine-runner 1200m Benchmark 58 handicap that day and she is expected to have improved for that effort.

While By The Book had the top weight here Absolute Sunshine ahead of her that day, she wears a tongue tie for the first time in this one and is taken to reverse that form with John Allen up.