There are five meetings set to take place on Wednesday including at Mornington, where an eight-race card is scheduled.
Chinqui @ 9.00
Elle Hudson @ 4.20
Headhunter @ 1.80
The seventh race on the Mornington card is a 1000m Benchmark 64 handicap expected to take place on a good 4 surface.
Three-year-old Skipjack is expected to feature prominently in the betting for the Peter Moody & Katherine Coleman team.
The gelding debuted with a win over 1100m when racing on a good 4 track at Ballarat in March last year, however, he went winless in three starts on wet tracks last prep.
While all three of those efforts came in metro events, it was disappointing that he could not build on a promising third at Flemington first up in two subsequent starts.
The return to a sound surface appeared to suit the gelding when he came home two lengths clear of his rivals over this distance at Cranbourne earlier this month.
While Emily Pozman’s mount rates highly, CHINQUI is the selection on this occasion.
This son of Harry Angel demonstrated good form in winning twice in his first prep racing, including by two lengths over 1147m at Geelong in September.
Chinqui raced on a soft 5 track when contesting a Benchmark 64 handicap that day, having previously lost out by a narrow margin over this course and distance.
The four-year-old returned to action at Flemington at the start of this month and he disappointed when eight over 1000m on a good 3 track.
Quicker going that day was probably against him, while a change of tactics was a further negative, having ended his last prep racing from the front.
A return to frontrunning is expected here with Mark Zahra, on board at Geelong, set to ride in this event.
At Kensington the fourth race of the day is an 1800m Benchmark 72 handicap event.
A soft 6 surface is expected for the race, with top weight Sly Boots expected to jump as favourite.
Trained by Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott, the gelding has shown good form in three starts this prep, including when successful over 1400m at Warwick Farm last month.
The four-year-old won by half-a-length when contesting a Benchmark 72 handicap that day and he went on to finish third on the main track here stepped up to 1600m subsequently.
This son of Toronado wears blinkers for the first time since 2023 and, while he holds obvious claims, he may well find one or two too strong.
Joe Pride’s ELLE HUDSON is preferred here, having shown improvement of late having finished held in his first two starts this prep.
Those starts include a fourth of five over 1400m when contesting a 1400m Class 1 handicap at Hawkesbury last month.
A good second over 1625m in a similar event at Wyong followed, prior to the gelding breaking through for his second career win when racing at Newcastle recently.
That Newcastle event saw the gelding triumph by two-and-a-half-lengths when contesting a 1900m Class 1 set weights contest held on a soft 6 surface.
Alysha Collett, on board last time out, is retaining the ride here with the pair taken to complete a double.
A wet track is expected at Doomben with eight races set to take place on a soft 7 surface.
The fourth race of the day is a 1350m maiden plate with HEADHUNTER taken to break through for his first win following a promising debut at Eagle Farm.
This gelding registered a good second when contesting a 1200m maiden held on a good 4 track on that occasion.
Jumping at $17 the selection raced prominently, prior to finding only a more experienced frontrunning rival strong that day.
While beaten just over two lengths that day, there was a two-and-a-half-length gap back to the third Rhuvaal who is set to reoppose here.
The youngster went well in a barrier trial held on a soft 7 track here in November and he looks capable of getting off the mark at the second attempt.