Cranbourne plays host to Thursday racing with a competitive eight-race card to get us through the day.
The Wizard of Odds is all over the best bets as we venture towards the spring carnival.
Cranbourne Race 1
#3 Dubai Moon
Dubai Moon is the only horse in this race with genuine city credentials tied to his name despite not winning a race throughout his 11 career starts.
Frank Stockdale saddles him up again and he goes up to 2600 metres for the first time in his career.
He raced well behind Vilanculos at Bendigo over 2400 metres last start when being very well backed.
That horse simply outclassed him in the concluding stages of the race, but that effort will have him in good order for this maiden.
He will enjoy a run camped in behind leaders and this is D-Day for him.
Suggested Bet: Dubai Moon win at $2.60
Suggested Bet: Exacta 3 & 10
Cranbourne Race 2
#13 Lunar Mach
Training duo Trent Busstin & Natalie Young have this race at their mercy with odds-on elect Forgot You and second favourite Lunar Mach.
We are going to side with Lunar Mach who looks to get a much better set up into the race than his stablemate.
The three-year-old colt by champion miler Maurice put in a solid debut run behind the highly touted OTI-owned horse Inverell at Sale over 1429 metres.
Lunar Mach only finished 1.8 lengths off him in second and should take plenty of fitness improvement from that run.
The stablemate might have the better form on paper with a Flemington run next to his name, but $1.70 elect has to contend with a month between runs, whereas our pick is up and about.
Suggested Bet: Lunar Mach win at $3.7
Suggested Exotic: Exacta 13 & 12
Cranbourne Race 6
#5 Yankee Lou
Having a speculative each-way punt on Yankee Lou who sports the winkers for the first time in his career.
The six-year-old gelding has been up for a while, but he has been competitive at pretty much all of his runs.
His last start effort was a 4.8-length defeat in BM-70 grade which is clearly well above his class range.
Charlotte Littlefield has opted to get him up to 1400 metres against horses that are a little more dour than the ones he has faced in recent sprint races.
It should allow to find a spot much closer to the lead speed, if not actually in the lead, on a track that favours those type of front-running gallopers.
Suggested Bet: Yankee Lou each-way at $13 the win and $3.7 the place.
Suggested Exotic: Boxed Trifecta – 4, 5, 13
Cranbourne Race 7
#11 Footlights
We were bang on the money with Footlights when debuted at Cranbourne a few weeks ago and he did not let us down.
The betting said he would come to play and that he did by bolting in his maiden race on debut over 1400 metres after being $7 into $3.8.
A three-year-old colt by Savabeel, he has ‘stayer’ engrained in his breeding lines and the way he surged to the line last start suggests the mile is going to suit him even more.
Luke Currie stays aboard and should find a midfield spot with cover to give this horse every conceivable chance to make it two wins from starts and potentially on his way to a Derby.
Suggested Bet: Footlights win at $2.2
