A field of potential Queensland Derby 2018 horses face off in the last on Doomben 10,000 Day this Saturday with the Chris Waller-trained Higher Ground tipped as the one to beat in Rough Habit Plate betting.
Queensland Derby favourite Higher Ground leads 2018 Rough Habit Plate betting for his next lead-up run at Doomben on Saturday. Photo: Steve Hart.
A key lead-up to the Group 1 $600,000 Queensland Derby (2200m) held back at Doomben Racecourse this year on June 9, Saturday’s Group 3 $125,000 Rough Habit Plate (2000m) closes the card in Brisbane as Race 9 at 4:30pm (AEST).
The race attracted the full 16 starters and the best of the three-year-olds in the latest Rough Habit Plate odds at Ladbrokes.com.au paying $3 and firming is Waller’s in-form So You Think colt Higher Ground.
The up-and-comer chases a third win on the trot and comes off a narrow victory in the Group 3 Frank Packer Plate (2000m) at Randwick from April 21.
Higher Ground is also leading pre-field Queensland Derby odds for next month at $5, a price set to firm should he salute on the weekend from gate seven with Glyn Schofield retaining the ride.
Waller has three runners in the Rough Habit Plate field this Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival with the race favourite joined by fellow So You Think progeny So You Win ($18) and the lightly-raced Makfi gelding Omineca ($11).
Drawn out wide in barrier 13 with Craig Williams to ride, Omineca comes off a lead-up third at the track in the Group 3 Gunsynd Classic (1630m) when drawn out in barrier 14 of 14.
The best out of the Gunsynd Classic backing up in Saturday’s Rough Habit Plate is runner-up Dark Dream, Kerry Parker’s perennial placegetter jumping from the outside alley (16 of 16).
During his seven career starts to date, All American gelding Dark Dream has enjoyed two wins and five seconds including crossing a nostril flare off the winner Villermont in the Gunsynd over a mile.
That could prove the form line to follow on Saturday and Dark Dream is the $4.20 second favourite in the Rough Habit Plate markets despite the wide barrier draw for he and last weekend’s Robert Sangster Stakes winning hoop Tim Clark.
Dark Dream is also the current $7.50 third favourite in futures Queensland Derby odds.
Outside of the dominant two hopes the rest of the Rough Habit Plate hopefuls can be found at double-figures including the Darren Weir-trained Tavistock gelding Lucky For All ($11) after a hat-trick of wins and Salsamor ($12) looking to atone for a 15th in the ATC Derby over the mile and a half on April 7.
Other notable Rough Habit Plate runners this winter include the Godolphin-raced Astoria ($14) drawn the rails and Kerrin McEvoy’s mount California Turbo ($14) prepared by Peter & Paul Snowden.
See below for the full Rough Habit Plate 2018 field and betting markets, odds open now at Ladbrokes.com.au.
