With the countdown to the G1 Melbourne Cup moving under 100 days this week, TAB’s Cup favourite Aston Rupee will be one of the star attractions at Sandown Park on Thursday night.
Aston Rupee (11 from 22), winner of the G3 Speed Star at Sandown in June in a scintillating 29.06sec, will exit box 8 in The Watchdog’s ‘Must Watch’ race; however the potential superstar will need to bring his ‘A’ game with his opposition headed by dual G1 winner and track specialist Tiggerlong Tonk (40 from 85 – 12 from 29 Trk/Dst – 29.03sec PB).
The ‘red hot’ line-up also features Riccarton Rick (8 from 22 Trk/Dst – 29.27sec PB) and Got The Torque (14 from 47).
Jeff Britton looks well-placed to continue his hot recent form with two excellent chances in distance events.
Promising stayer Mepunga Ruby (9 from 16 – 7 of past 10) is the testing material in a 715m event, where G1 Sandown Cup finalist Kenny The Brute (9 from 35) is among her main rivals, while multiple Group finalist Do It (11 wins – 29.15sec 515m PB) will make his 595m debut, having impressed when stepping up to 600m at The Meadows recently.
Another talented Britton chaser, Mepunga Knight (15 from 37), will tackle G1 Maturity Classic finalist Envy To Burn (8 from 23 – 3 from 5 Box 1) in another feature match-up.
Meanwhile at Warrnambool, Osprey Rose (Won past 4 – 3 from 3 Trk/Dst), trained by Britton’s partner Angela Langton, is striving to claim a fifth straight victory when she takes on the lightly-raced Boom Out (5 from 9 – 2 from 3 Trk/Dst).
Joe Borg is eyeing a ‘family’ double at Warrnambool with talented brothers Masked Avenger (12 from 27) and Master Avenger (7 from 19), which both have to contend with Box 4.
Here’s an extensive analysis of today’s Must Watch Race, and be sure to scroll down further for ? The Watchdog’s $10 spend…
? MUST-WATCH RACE: RSN CENTRAL – 10:30AM Weekdays
RICCARTON RICK ? TIGGERLONG TONK ? GOT THE TORQUE ? ASTON RUPEE
? Sandown Park ? Race 7 ? 515m ⏱ 5:57pm
Form ? https://watchdog.grv.org.au/meeting/666538481/race/7
The Watchdog says ?: Thrilling line-up with some of the nation’s best sprinters duking it out. ASTON RUPEE (8) has turned in some colossal performances of late and the fastest sprinter in the land will have to produce a monumental performance to score tonight. His box manners have been letting him down of late and, with the abundance of pace drawn on his inside, there is every chance he’ll be posted four or five wide through the bend and could be giving some elite sprinters a decent head start. I am not saying he cannot win, but he cannot afford to make any mistakes in the initial stages. TIGGERLONG TONK (2) is an absolute marvel and the way he is going, I honestly believe he has the potential to reach 50 career wins (currently on 40 wins). After a luckless run at Bendigo, he did all the work mid race and ran his opponents into the ground when scoring at The Meadows last week in a slick 29.83sec. With limited early speed drawn either side of him, he should assume control soon after box rise, and he is hard to get past when he can dictate terms out in front. RICCARTON RICK (1) knows Sandown like the back of his paw and, after a string of luckless runs, he returned to the winner’s list with a powerful win here last week in 29.53sec. From the good draw, he should be able to settle in the first half of the field and he will start to get into his work mid race. I do not think he can reel in ‘Tonk,’ but he will definitely make it interesting. GOT THE TORQUE (4) and JEPARA (7) round out the serious winning chances. Both have big engines, but they will need to find the top early to get the cash, so they appear to be better place options tonight. It should be a cracking affair and fingers crossed ‘Tonk’ and ‘Rupee’ can head to the back straight in the top two spots as this could be a race for the ages.
Selections: 2 – 1 – 8 – 4
