SELECTIONS - 23 August 2006

POOMA selections:

Werribee 1-3 Not A Copy
Werribee 3-12 Danequest
Werribee 7-12 Valiya

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

Belmont 2-5, 4-2, 7-2
Doomben 2-2, 3-1, 5-1, 7-3, 8-2, 8-5
Warwick Farm 1-5, 4-7, 6-6, 7-4
Werribe 3-3

Lay of the Day: Werribee 5-1 Drizzle $2.80 - [LOTD 15 from 18]

Today: A good day for a punt, I reckon. In the first at Werribee big grey gelding, 3-Not A Copy, ran a terrific race at his first start in a pretty strong race. He was three deep for the entire trip (though it's not quite as tough at Bendigo as other tracks) with a strong pace and only got collared late. With the Hawkes and Hayes runners coming off city runs this one might be fair value. 3-12 Danequest really looks the goods and I'll be having a crack if he's not too short. 7-12 Valiya drops a million grades here and will be fair odds at around $4 with Entrust in the race. She ran 10th last time but was only beaten 4.4L in a race where they went slow early and sprinted. She started the sprint about 5L off them and finished that distance back so her sprint was as good as the placegetters. I was impressed with Doomben 7-3 Pentup's first up win at his first run since moving north from Sydney. This is no harder and, with the Alan Bailey polish, he should be going close again. On the Beadmanometer I think he'll win two or three races today at Warwick Farm. He rode a double yesterday but should have had three. In race 5, I think that 7-The Duckster will jump and run from the inside gate and be hard to run down.

Yesterday: A quiet day on the punt, as I decided to put the cue in the rack after mistakingly backing 15-Play And Miss instead of 16-Our Eva, which I'd nominated as a horse to watch in the first at Sale. Of course, Our Eva got up in the last hop paying $26 and it was no consolation that Play And Miss was a late scratching so I got my money back. There was some horses worth following from the Sale meeting, I thought. 3-4 Courageous Heart is a Jugah 4YO mare having her first start and she was very strong in her all the way win, drawing away nicely at the end. The two placegetters in race 5, 5-Pillar and 8-King's Causeway also looked pretty good and I'll be following them in their next couple of runs. Beating our POOMA selection was 6-4 Brunelleschi who really sprinted quickly to pick up race favourite, Palmyra Boy. He's by Pientre Celebre who has the highest strike rate of all stallions in the world the last time I checked and looked really well suited to the middle distance journey. He was only having his 8th start and is a 5YO worth following. Up at Rocky, one of our nominated southerners ran 2nd at $30 running the quinella with our non-POOMA selection, Milora Miss. A couple of nice wins at Canterbury by Impeach and Natural Man, the latter proving he's a real Danehill by improving markedly back on the dry track.

POOMAs: Street Classic ran a nice race for 3rd at Sale. It was his first go at a longer trip and I'll be following up on him.

LOTD: Decides was a long way from his $2.70 morning price, starting at $8. He showed pace to the turn but was beaten at the 200m mark.