Group 1 racing returns for the season at Caulfield Racecourse this Saturday in the form of the Memsie Stakes 2017, betting tips and updated odds for the weight-for-age feature detailed below.  

Le Romain is the Races.com.au tip to win Saturday’s Group 1 Memsie Stakes at Caulfield. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos

Single-figure fancies have dominated the Memsie Stakes results over the past two decades and this spring there four horses under $10 for the win in the latest markets at Ladbrokes.com.au. 

A dozen gallopers are engaged to face off in the Group 1 $1 million New Zealand Bloodstock Memsie Stakes (1400m) field on the weekend and all the rage in betting is the Lindsay Park-trained WA expat Vega Magic ($2.50). 

The Goodwood winning sprinter has form over the 1400m and is also now proven at Caulfield following a nice Listed win under big weight at the track first-up a fortnight ago.  

Barrier three and Craig Williams are two other pluses for the in-form favourite and back to weight-for-age, plus being fitter for that enormous first-up victory, he will be hard to run down from up front.  

So, will Vega Magic salute for the punters or is there value to be found further down the Memsie Stakes odds from the likes of Darren Weir’s defending champion Black Heart Bart ($6.50), the Kris Lees-trained Le Romain ($6.50) in his first Melbourne assignment or the rails-drawn four-year-old Hey Doc ($6.50) coming off a first-up win down the Flemington straight?  

1st 

#2 Le Romain ($6.50)

This is Lees’ three-time winner’s first run outside of Sydney and it all depends on how he handles the Melbourne way of racing. Think he has the versatility and class to do it this way and if so, represents nice value in an open market. The Hard Spun five-year-old has had four runs over the Memsie Stakes distance for four seconds and he is out to go one better second-up on the weekend. Has been freshened-up since the resuming second to stablemate Invincible Gem in the Group 2 Missile Stakes (1200m) at Randwick on August 5 and will appreciate the extra metres here. Sydney form from the autumn shows a second to Winx in the George Ryder when defeating Chautauqua (3rd) for the second time after success in the Canterbury Stakes. This is no dummy horse and out to prove he can do it both ways.  

2nd 

#1 Black Heart Bart ($6.50)

Plenty to like about Weir’s defending Memsie Stakes winner who strips fitter second-up after the Group 2 P.B. Lawrence Stakes third at the track and distance behind Caulfield Cup-bound Hartnell two weeks ago. That should have shaken out the cobwebs and this ultra-consistent Perth expat is ready to go and add to his outstanding Group 1 record over the 1400m at Caulfield that also includes the CF Orr – Futurity Stakes double from the autumn. Gets a dry track and he’ll bounce back to his best.  

3rd 

#5 Vega Magic ($2.50)

Think the bookmakers have genuinely sorted the contenders from the pretenders, but the order is a little tricky. Recent history shows four of the past five Memsie Stakes winners saluting, so can Vega Magic add to that this weekend? Did everything right in the Regal Roller Stakes with the hefty kilos last time out here and is drawn for the run of the race on Saturday. Plenty of boxes ticked and wouldn’t need to improve much to beat this star-studded line-up. Group 1 sprint winner and has form back in W.A. over 1400m.  

Get behind our Memsie Stakes 2017 betting tips at the right spring racing odds online now through Ladbrokes.com.au.