Feature racing heads to Bendigo this Saturday for ten competitive races, with capacity fields throughout the program.
There may not be a great deal to get excited about from an early betting perspective, so punters can save their bullets for the gruelling three days of The ’Bool just around the corner. Still, one runner does appeal early in the day. Jareth has won just twice from eleven starts, but has been consistently competitive, and his performance ratings suggest he is well equipped to win a race of this quality.
With no disrespect to Dakotah Keane, who has ridden him well at his last two starts, Logan Bates is a better jockey booking and should be able to extract a little more from him. The forecasted pace is only moderate, and from a good barrier, he can be ridden positively and set the pace as he sees fit.
Eleven furlongs is ideal for him, especially after a strongly run 2000-metre race twenty-one days ago, leading into the fifth run of his campaign. He has always given the impression that this will be his optimal distance range in time, and he is well placed to run to the right-hand tail of his ratings, perhaps even surpassing his best to date.
Gavin Bedggood has done a terrific job with the favourite, Houdini, since the horse joined his stable, but I’m not convinced there is a great deal more improvement left in him, whereas Jareth still looks capable of rising to a higher level.
There has been support for Jareth since markets opened on Wednesday afternoon, and I expect that to continue until the death of betting.
It would not at all surprise if he were to firm into favouritism by tomorrow afternoon.
Suggested bets:
R1 Jareth @ $6.00
