Sandown Hillside plays host to a rare metro meeting this Saturday in Victoria, hosting a nine race program.
The track is currently rated a Good 4 and with great weather on the cards in Melbourne, participants will be met with a dry racing surface.
The rail is true for the entire circuit and at this set-up, the track should be playing fairly. However, it is always important to monitor early conditions on the Hillside circuit.
Sandown Tips from TheMelbourneMail
Sandown Hillside Race 6 Tip #4 Bella Tiara $5.00
I'm keen to stick with this Matthew Williams trained filly, who is absolutely airborne so far this prep having recorded two wins and a third from three starts.
She has furnished into a lovely type. Her last start win at Caulfield, where she beat the smart Sensationalisation, was pleasing not only to the eye but also on the clock.
She settled last in the race that day, and the leader got away with some very cheap sectionals between the 1000m and 600m mark. This meant that Bella Tiara was going to have a big task to loop the field and win.
But she did it in style, letting down with a very good last 200m split that rated inside the top 10 fastest of the entire meeting.
Fourth-up now and ready to hit her peak, she will get back from barrier two and will be well suited by the strong tempo in the race.
Duke Of Neworleans is likely to push hard from the widest barrier, while El Salto and Miss Divine Em will be reluctant to give up the lead easily from their respective barriers.
This will allow Bella Tiara to stalk the hot speed and gather momentum down the outside in the straight.
Sandown Hillside Race 8 Tip #2 Heart Of Puissance $2.90
The time has finally come for this very promising four-year-old out of the Maher/Eustace camp to resume his racing career. He's coming off a lengthy lay off due to some underlying issues, which have now been fully managed and resolved according to the stable.
He is a horse with a lot of talent, which was on display when he ran a very close 3rd over 1600m here on the Hillside course in the Group 2 Sandown Guineas.
He's had three jump outs leading into this first-up assignment, and the latest was a win at Terang on January 5 over the 1000m.
In that clash, he was asked to extend inside the final 150m and let down very sharply to win. What was more impressive was the fact that he continued to ran on hard through the line, with a great turn of foot on display.
He won first-up on debut, so there is little doubting his fresh ability.
Given he's a Group 1/Group 2 level horse and only carrying 61kg here in a very weak summer time BM70 at Sandown, he looks exceptionally placed.
I'm taking the team's word that his issues are sorted, plus the booking of J Allen is a positive.
With even luck in running from barrier three, he is surely just too good for this field.
Jan 22, 2021 04:59 PM
AAP
