The Meadows betting preview, best bets & odds | Saturday, 6/5/23
The Meadows will host 12 races on Saturday night from 6:38PM local time. There's two terrific feature races on the night both set to be run over the 525m. The GOTBA PLATE for 6th and 7th graders as well as the GOTBA CUP for 5th graders featuring the likes of Magic Muffin, Make No Promises, Hill Top Jack and exciting youngster, Al's Entity.
Best Bet: Navarino (Race 2)
Siding with a Jason Thompson trained runner has served a successful recipe for punters over the years and expect this trend to continue with Navarino. The near two-year-old son of Aston Dee Bee x Madalia Maggie has tasted little success in three starts since returning from a five week absence. Before his injury enforced lay off, he was a brilliant 29.57s winner at Sandown over the 515m. This win stacked up well on the day with the only dog having gone faster being the Robert Britton, Trapper Tears (29.37) who has subsequently run second in the Group 3 Launching Pad Final. The return to a two turn track looks to be just what the doctor ordered. He has drawn ideally in box seven with a wide runner in Gangsta Paradise drawn outside him. This runner will not dive in which should allow Navarino to have an unimpeded run to the first turn. The main danger in betting is Kanji Uganda off box two. She has demonstrated poor box manners in her last few starts failing to begin well and subsequently ruling herself out of contention. A repeat of this will aid Navarino's chances.
Best Bet
Race 2 – 
Navarino (7)
Form: 11344 | Career: 10: 4-2-2 | Trainer: Jason Thompson
Next Best Bet: Hummock (Race 8)
Race 8 appears a battle of the heavyweights drawn low where Hummock looks to get the better over the Jason Thompson trained, Triumph. Hummock is six runs into his preparation after a five month absence due to injury when finishing down the track in a Hume Cup heat. He has scored two victories in those six runs and one could argue of his fourteen career victories, there have been none more impressive than last week. Settling off the speed from the middle draw, Hummock was able to shoot through a needle like gap and roar away with a visually impressive victory in 34.50s. This victory added to his already impressive statistics at the track and distance. As mentioned above, Hummock's main danger is drawn directly inside him, the current favourite, Stealth. Stealth was recently a winner over the 715m at Sandown. He returns to the 600m at The Meadows where he seems to race under par having been winless from five starts. Upon video analysis, he has clearly began poorly from this start on numerous occasions and given he does so again, it will only make his task that much harder against Hummock who's very strong.
Next Best
Race 8 – 
Hummock (2)
Form: 14341 | Career: 37: 14-3-5 | Trainer: Clint Capuano
Best Value: Zoha Bale (Race 3)
Zoha Bale will be looking to strike third up after returning from an injury after a Country Classic campaign. The two-year-old son of Allen Deed has run twice over the 460m at Warragul bumping into arguably one of the best one turn dogs in Victoria, Not For Profit. Jumping from box seven, he only began fairly but thundered home to run second in his return effort. Earlier this week he raced flat and finished down the track. The Delbridge team wouldn't be running him on a four day back up if there was something wrong and the step up to the 525m on a two turn track will aid his chances. He has a terrific record at The Meadows recording four wins from seven starts and a further two placings. Also, he is unbeaten from this box and has the benefit of the inside box being vacant. Given he can get through the first turn unscathed, he will be finishing fastest and will prove hard to hold out.
Best Value
Race 3 – 
Zoha Bale (6)
Form: 12426 | Career: 30: 8-6-6 | Trainer: Mark Delbridge
