SELECTIONS - 21 August 2006

POOMA selections:

There are no POOMA selections today

Non-POOMA selections (and ruffies in red below):

Wangaratta 5-5, 9-1

Lay of the Day: Wangaratta 2-3 Good Red $2.00; ran a nice 2nd last time but I'm potting him because 1) I think Nearctic Crossing will win and 2) his trainer, Luke Oliver, only has a 6% strike rate - [LOTD 13 from 16]

Today: Wangaratta and Musswellbrook are the only two meetings. The only things I can say about Musswellbrook are: I know where it is; I've had a horse race and win there; and I've never been able to pick a winner there. So you're on your own with that one. Wangaratta is not much better, really. In race 6 there's an interesting runner, 2-Ching Hoi Boy, who has done his racing in Hong Kong and has the unenviable record of 30 starts for only 7 placings but with an amazing $155,178 in prizemoney. He's first up at 1600m for good trainer Andrew Payne in a field that doesn't have a remarkable depth of talent so if there's any money for him then he might be worth a bet.

Yesterday: Zupaone showed that he's a pretty fair sprinter with a nice first up win. I doubt he's up to Black Type races but he should always be competitive in city sprints. Eskaw was heavily backed in race 3 and won very comfortably. It's hard to guage how far she can go but if she's backed confidently in any race she's in then I'd probably follow her. The quaddie was a tad tricky. Holding had his first start for David Hayes who managed to get him back to winning form, which put the final nail in most quaddie coffins. De Kolta had the run everyone expected, got out at the right time and won nicely. He can step up to Saturday class. Up north, good galloper, Juerga, carried 61.5kg to win the Narromine Cup and at Taree Mr Gold Flyer won his 3rd race in a row with another emphatic victory. His record is a handy 24-8-6 and I'd think he could get away with a midweek staying event in the city.

POOMAs: Bit of an off day for the selections with only one placegetter. I was quite confident about Anhinga but it turned out that the outside rail was not the place to be, as was shown by later straight races, and she was always struggling. She ran quite a good race in the circumstances and I'd follow up on her. Archie Senior ran up to win at the 200m but looked like he failed to get the 1700m trip and I'd think he's better off back at 1400-1500m. Temporalay didn't show the dash he has at the 300m of his last couple of starts but ran well for 4th and Living End at St Arnaud was held up before charging home for 2nd.

LOTD: Living Hell started 2nd favourite and was always off the bit on what turned out to be the wrong part of the track.