Australian Racing: Watersports to leave rivals in her wake

There are four meetings set to take place on Thursday, including at Wyong where a nine-race program is scheduled.

Race 7 Wyong

Spangler @ 21.00

Race 8 Pakenham

Watersports @ 6.50

Race 6 Ipswich

Cool Panels @ 6.00

Spangler for Wildcard win

The most valuable race on the Wyong card is the seventh race of the day, the $150,000 Provincial-Midway Championships Wildcard, a Class 5 set weights event set to take place over 1350m.

A heavy 8 track is expected for the feature with Magnatear likely to jump as favourite for the Richard & Will Freedman team.

This five-year-old has been in good form so far in 2025, winning twice and placing third once from his four starts.

The first of those wins came over 1600m in a Benchmark 72 handicap held on a soft 5 track here in January, while he duly followed up in a similar event at Randwick two weeks later.

Magnatear arrives here on the back of a third in the 1400m National Sprint at Canberra last month, however, he failed to shine in a metro event on his only previous start on a heavy track.

With the expected going in mind, the Kris Lees-trained SPANGLER is taken to spring a surprise here, having shown a liking for testing conditions in the past.

Spangler, winner of the 20-runner Little Dance over 1600m at Randwick in June 2023, has been lightly-raced since then registered just four efforts subsequently.

Those efforts include a down-the-field effort in The Ingham, a 1600m Group 2 at Randwick in December, while the gelding returned form a spell with a last of 10 at Hawkesbury last month.

This seven-year-old raced on a soft 5 track at Hawkesbury, his first outing on a wet track since an impressive near five-length victory in the Polytrack-Midway Championships Final in April 2023.

Spangler raced on a heavy 8 track over 1400m at Randwick on that occasion and he is taken to record a win from an inside barrier.

Watersports to salute at Pakenham

The finale at Pakenham is a 1600m Benchmark 64 handicap expected to take place on a good 4 track.

Four-year-old Just Glamorous is expected to jump as favourite following a couple of good runs this prep.

The first of those saw her register a narrow victory when contesting a 1250m Benchmark 64 handicap at Canterbury in February.

Trained by Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott, she went on to place second in a 1400m Benchmark 72 handicap at Warwick Farm just under a month ago.

Both of those efforts came on soft going and, while she rates highly following a trial win at Caulfield Heath recently, WATERSPORTS is the pick here.

The three-year-old showed good form earlier this season, registering a couple of placed efforts in maiden company including when runner-up over 1600m at Seymour in December.

This daughter of Ocean Park was beaten less than one-and-a-half-lengths that day and she was stepped up to 2000m for a competitive handicap at Flemington subsequently.

Archie Alexander’s representative performed with credit at Flemington and she was freshened prior to breaking through for her first win back down to 1600m at Swan Hill last month.

Declan Bates is set to ride for the first time here and, jumping from barrier five, his mount is taken to record back-to-back wins.

Panels to score at Ipswich

A soft 7 track is expected at Ipswich with the sixth race a 1666m Class 1 handicap event.

Lindsay Gough is set to saddle COOL PANELS here, with the five-year-old having finished in the top four in all three starts since winning over 1200m at Kilcoy in January.

Cool Panels broke through for his first win when racing on a soft 7 track at Kilcoy and he has since proven that he can compete against winners.

The gelding was beaten just under three-and-a-half-lengths when runner-up in a Class 1 handicap over 1700m at this venue on his penultimate start.

Georgina Cartwright, set to ride here and on board at Kilcoy, was in the saddle when the son of Adelaide placed third in a metro 1650m Class 1 handicap at Doomben last month.

A wide barrier isn’t ideal, however, Cool Panels looks capable of overcoming that dropping to provincial level racing.