Before Winx races in Sydney on Saturday, Melbourne’s Moonee Valley Racecourse hosts a Friday night meeting headlined by the Typhoon Tracy Stakes 2017 for three-year-old fillies.
Last start Rubiton Stakes winner Super Cash ran third in last year’s Typhoon Tracy Stakes trifecta at Moonee Valley. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
Due to run as Moonee Valley Race 7 at 9:30pm (AEDT), this season’s $150,000 Group 3 Typhoon Tracy Stakes (1200m) originally drew a final field of 14 young hopefuls.
Two early scratchings from the widely drawn Savanna Amour (12) and undefeated Crystal Fountain (13) leaves a dozen in the mix for the set weights plus penalties sprint, which this season’s Rubiton Stakes winner Super Cash ran third in last year.
In the latest Typhoon Tracy Stakes odds at Ladbrokes.com.au five of the hopefuls are under $10 for the win with markets led by the easing favourite Gridelin ($3.90) and the in-form Improvement ($4) shooting for her fifth straight success.
Drawn in barrier nine with Kerrin McEvoy to ride, the John O’Shea-trained Gridelin is a classy Godolphin-raced daughter of New Approach down in class after a tough Sydney run.
After back-to-back victories this summer, including a five length romp home over 1100m at Canterbury in late January, the progressive grey was last seen crossing under three lengths back for fourth behind dual Group 1 winner Global Glamour at Randwick in the Group 2 Light Fingers Stakes (1200m).
Gridelin was forced to race wide throughout in the Light Fingers Stakes, fighting on gamely to finish top four, and with a better run at the tight Valley circuit is a definite winning chance.
She returns to Melbourne for the first time since August last year and has her second Moonee Valley run on Friday night after finishing second here as the beaten odds-on favourite behind Zamzam on debut in January 2016.
Her biggest danger on Friday night in the Group 3 shapes-up as Gary Portelli’s flying Swiss Ace filly Improvement who has won four of her five career starts and hasn’t been defeated since a Hawkesbury second on debut last November.
She too was last seen racing at Randwick when carrying 58kg to a 1200m win on January 14.
The Typhoon Tracy Stakes marks her first Melbourne run and how she handles the other way of racing will be key to keeping her perfect three-from-three record over the distance intact.
The returning Chris Waller-trained Overstep ($7.50), a stablemate to Saturday’s Chipping Norton Stakes favourite Winx, and early market mover Villa Rosa ($9.50) for Ciaron Maher round out the single-figure hopes.
Other notable chances include the rails-drawn Group 3 winning daughter of Nicconi Hear The Chant ($10) for Lindsay Park and the undefeated Wez Hunter-trained Magnatti ($11) coming off a win at the track – drawn a treat in barriers one and two respectively.
Check out the full Typhoon Tracy Stakes 2017 field, barriers, jockeys and latest Fixed Win odds below provided by Ladbrokes.com.au – home of Odds Boost (T&Cs apply).
