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SATURDAY'S BEST Randwick Race 6 No.8 Seahampton (Blake Shinn) - $3.10 I know she only beat her own age group from a bit of a fast lane, but it would have been hard to walk away from Seahampton's last start win at this venue a fortnight ago and not be impressed. The daughter of Sebring, Seahampton struck me as a filly blessed with a good dose of ability from the outset. She put the writing on the wall the previous start when flashing up behind mares of reasonably quality, Vienna Romance and Zonk; she zoomed home in that Randwick victory running some exceptional sectionals late. She has to go up in grade now, plus take on the older mares, but she stays down in the weights and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if she's actually better on top of the ground. Blake Shinn will go back from that alley - hopefully he isn't forced to go all of the way back - and swing wide after they straighten. I expect she'll be too classy for this lot on her way to bigger and better things. AROUND THE GROUNDS Randwick Race 5 No.9 Seaglass (Kerrin McEvoy) - $10 Owned by famed American stud Stonestreet Farm, Seaglass looks a filly capable of reaching decent heights based on what we've seen in her four-start career thus far. After two trials, I reckon Team Snowden will have her ready to go here first up since September of last year. Some of the form around her from those early career runs looks solid and whilst she's not a filly with a sparkling turn of foot, she has always travelled kindly in her races. She also capable of being placed anywhere in the run and seems to find something under pressure; all nice traits to have if you don't have that killer acceleration. There looks to be some genuine early speed engaged in this race, so I think Kerrin McEvoy will probably have her a touch better than midfield from that good draw and hopefully he doesn't strike any traffic issues when attempting to get Seaglass into the race. If he doesn't, I can definitely see her winning this. Flemington Race 5 No.6 So You Swing (Damien Thornton) - $3.90 After a lovely debut victory at Geelong when sweeping home from well back, So You Swing was sent to a decent midweek two-year-old event at Sandown. She got back midfield down on the fence that day, struck a few traffic issues and took a while to wind up, before poking through a gap late while trying in vain to chase down all-the-way leader, Social Spin. I thought it was the run of a filly, even at this early stage of her career, looking to get over a bit of ground. She certainly gets that now in the Byerley Handicap, the longest race on the calendar for juveniles; it's over the 1800 metres at Flemington and I think she's as ready as any of them to handle it. Her big danger looks to be the Tulloch Lodge Sydney visitor Fun Fact, who led all the way at Newcastle over a mile, showing some ticker to kick back and win when looking gone. So I think Damien Thornton will be keen to not let Fun Fact out of his sights throughout the run and perhaps look to settle So You Swing a bit closer than what she has been. I'm confident she eats up the extra trip and proves to good in the end. Flemington Race 8 No.6 Sixties Groove (Damian Lane) - $2.60 Bang. Boom. Kapow. Whooshka! However you describe the manner in which Sixties Groove put away his rivals with a blistering turn of foot at this venue a fortnight ago, it still doesn't accurately portray how impressive it was. Only good horses can do that and even though he beat nothing but an average bunch of off-season middle distance types, it's difficult not be caught up in the way he did it. He'd been building to a win that's for sure; he didn't really like soft tracks at his first two Aussie starts. He was also perhaps a little underdone after not racing for almost a year; but two back, when he got onto a good surface, he improved quickly and looked the winner before his well performed stablemate, Pacodali, ran him down late. Darren Weir had no hesitation in backing him up a week later where he blew away his rivals late. This is a better race than that, no doubt. For starters, he has to turn the tables on Pacodali, plus the likes of Morton's Fork, Trap For Fools and My Nordic Hero are all very capable open-class gallopers. But Sixties Groove has more upside than any of those, plus he gets in nicely and Damian Lane should be able to give him a perfect run from that gate. If he wins this I can see Weir eyeing off some high quality spring events. OVER THE ODDS Doomben Race 9 No.4 Someday (Mark Du Plessis) - $34 He's a rising ten-year-old, but Someday has only had the 41 starts, which is very reasonable for a galloper of that vintage, and I reckon he's still got something to offer. He's not as consistent as he once was in his old age, but he's only five starts removed from winning at listed level in the Bernborough Handicap at the end of last year over this same track and distance. He needs things to go his way, but what he mostly requires is a good surface, something he hasn't had at his two starts this prep. Back on top of the ground here, combined with the fact that there looks set to be solid speed up front, I have Someday improving markedly third up. He tends to only win when he's a price and he's certainly that on Saturday, so he'll be getting some of mine. QUADDIE SELECTIONS Randwick Leg 1 - 8 Leg 2 - 3,8,9 Leg 3 - 3,5,7,10 Leg 4 - 1,4,12,15 ($100 = 208.33%) Flemington Leg 1 - 1,2,3,4 Leg 2 - 2,3,4,5 Leg 3 - 6 Leg 4 - 2,3,6 ($100 = 208.33%)
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