A heap of value to be found with the best bets ahead of a 10-race card at Ballarat on Saturday night.
The feature event is the Group 3 2yo Gold Sovereign Final over 1710 metres.
Ballarat Race 1
#5 Im Shadow Boxer
Starting the card with a bet on Im Shadow Boxer who gets what looks to be a very favourable map in this race.
He was driven out to lead over 2150 metres at Bendigo last Saturday and was nabbed on the line to go down by half-a-metre.
The fact he has now had a run where he lead over this distance and attempted to make all the play out in front will have him fit and firing for this race.
His gate draws have not helped his cause in recent times with the Herbertson stable electing to ride him cold at his last few due to drawing wide or on the second row.
He should be able to dictate the race on his terms and looks hard to beat.
Suggested Bet: Im Shadow Boxer win at $3.5
Suggested Exotic: Quinella 3 & 5
Ballarat Race 3
#7 Muscle Bart
What an absolute pearler of a 2yo final we have on our hands.
Muscle Bart and Catch A Wave, if the betting and form is anything to by, will be fighting it out for a share of $40,000 prize money.
Have to be with the colt who has big base of residual fitness and that is Muscle Bart.
The Emma Stewart-trained colt scored by 10.5 metres upon resuming from a 101-day spell and probably has a heap of improvement to come as well.
Stewart would have had this race on her radar from a few months ago and winning this will give her the chance to enter him in some of the big juvenile Group 1 races.
He should be able to burn across from gate seven on the front row, control the speed and then boot clear to hold off the fast finishing Catch a Wave.
Suggested Bet: Muscle Bart win at $1.75
Ballarat race 8
#7 The Pantheist
She might not be drawn well, but The Pantheist goes like a bomb when she races fresh as she does here in this race.
Her first-up record reads three starts for two wins and the beginning of her last campaign was a very sharp victory over the mile.
Chris Alford is going to have work his genuine tactical mind to find a spot in the run for this four-year-old mare but he has the ability to do so.
There does not look to be a huge amount of pace in this event and Alford might push his case and decide to take the towards the front rather than getting back off what could be a muddling tempo.
Regardless of what occurs, she too hard to ignore at the each-way price on offer.
Suggested Bet: The Pantheist each-way at $6 the win and $2 the place.
Suggested Exotic: Boxed Trifecta – 7, 9, 10
Ballarat Race 9
#8 Sirletic
Sirletic did a great job to finish fifth in a higher graded race behind Tango Tara last week and that form looks far superior to what the rest of this field has to offer.
Josh Aiken will get a perfect run up behind the leaders from gate eight as Hashtag and Ozzie Battler boot up in attempt to take the lead.
The drop back to 1710 metres from a 2150-metre race should be of no concern either with the solid early speed predicted to play into his superior stamina.
His last run at Ballarat was a very convincing 10.5-metre win which highlights his ability to handle the surface and corners of the track.
He has a 54% winning strike rate at this distance and this is argubaly the easiest race he contested in over a month.
Suggested Bet: Sirletic win at $2
