Gibbo’s Blackbook: Wet Track Winners to Follow at Eagle Farm
It was a rain affected Eagle Farm on Saturday and those days can get messy quickly. Tempo distortions, lanes chopping out, horses failing to let down.
But wet tracks also create opportunity.
If you trust your eye and understand which performances carried merit beyond the conditions, you can set yourself up for the next few weeks.
We found a few winners on the card and there are a couple I am keen to follow again shortly, especially with a better forecast this week and a likely return to a sounder surface in Brisbane.
These are the two I want in your blackbook.
PEMBREY Race 1
There is no overstatement here. She is clearly the best two-year-old we have seen in Queensland this season.
She had trialled the house down for Tony Gollan, but there were genuine queries going into Saturday. Wet track. Debut run. Race pressure.
It did not matter.
She travelled beautifully, handled the going without a hitch and when asked to let down, she showed a sharp turn of foot to put them away with authority. That was not a grinding wet tracker’s win. That was a quality filly accelerating.
The scary part is she did it with something in hand.
The way she cruised so comfortably in front, changed gears and smashed the line suggests she will measure up in better company. Whether they keep her in Brisbane for now or look interstate, she profiles as a filly with upside.
If she stays in the state and steps through the grades, she will be hard to beat again.
She may well be a very good one.
GREEN FLY Race 7
This was placement 101.
He was well found in betting and rightly so. They elected to carry the big weight rather than dodge the race and it proved the right call.
He settled last, circled them and simply outclassed the field. On a wet track, giving weight and coming from the back, that is a sign of superiority.
They can stay in this grade for another start, claim 3kg with a competent apprentice and he probably wins again. The key is that he looks to have come back in terrific order this prep and is racing with confidence.
If they space him correctly, there is another cheque there very soon.
Looking Ahead
With a better forecast this week, we should get a genuine racing surface by the weekend. That often flips the script on exposed wet track form and creates fresh betting angles.
