What a competitive we have at Pakenham for Thursday night racing as the quality of races continues to get better.
We get a handful of juvenile races and a mixture of races with exposed form to get stuck into for the best bets from BetDeluxe.
pakenham race 1
#2 headline story
Headline Story has been given plenty of time at the jump outs to get himself ready for a big debut.
The Phillip Stokes-trained two-year-old gelding was spelled after a few jump outs in the spring and seems to have returned a more mature horse.
Like the way he closed off his most recent jump out on March 16 after being ridden out in the last 800 metres.
He responded well being put under pressure, which is a good sign for a young horse.
Racing at his home track will be beneficial for him as well as he understands and knows the surroundings.
Brett Prebble being booked is a sign of intent.
Suggested Bet: Headline Story each-way at $5.5 the win and $1.90 the place.
Suggested Exotic: Quinella 2 & 3
Pakenham race 2
#10 mawkeb
Going with Mawkeb to break her maiden.
She was truck loaded in the betting on debut over 1200 metres, but was given a tough time of it from a wide barrier when racing without cover.
She had no sprint to let down with at the end of the race and then made the very sharp rise to 1600 metres next start.
He ran over the mile at only her second career start was fantastic given her race conditioning was not exactly an ideal set up to run a strong mile.
Now that she has had a solid run over the distance, she will be thriving and perfectly placed to run a cracker.
Hoping Jamie Mott can press forward from the barrier and find the front.
Suggested Bet: Mawkeb win at $2.25
pakenham race 3
#11 waitapu
Waitapu seems to have come back a much better race horse after his first campaign.
The three-year-old gelding from the Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young yard has had two solid jump outs to get screwed down for this first-up crack at 1400 metres.
He has two important gear changes for this race, which will hopefully spark him into form.
The blinkers go on to help him concentrate and focus on running strongly, and the tongue tie goes on to help his breathing in the run.
Barrier three is a tick and Craig Newitt will be positively away from the barriers in order to get this gelding to settle in a handy spot.
Suggested Bet: Waitapu each-way at $5 the win and $2 the place.
Suggested Exotic: Boxed First Four – 2, 5, 7, 9, 11
pakenham race 6
#6 villager
Villager has been racing so well without winning over the last two months.
He is a victim of his own circumstances as he continually gets back in his race, looms up and just finds one or two too good for him.
He has some great ratings at Pakenham over the last few starts that would be capable of winning this race and happy to take him over the favourite who looks horribly under the odds.
Like the booking of Teodore Nugent who can be an aggressive front-running rider and that positivity here should hopefully see Villager land in a spot which sees him within striking distance of the leaders.
Suggested Bet: Villager each-way at $7 the win and $2.40 the place.
Suggested Exotic: Quinella 1 & 6
