SELECTIONS - 30 August 2006

POOMA selections:

Rockhampton 5-1 Regal Megan

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

Balaklava 8-7
Belmont 2-3, 3-3, 4-1, 8-1
Canterbury 1-8
Moonee Valley 7-9
Rockhampton 2-1, 3-4, 5-1

Today: It looks a good day for a punt with strong Wednesday meetings around the country though dead tracks at Canterbury and Moonee Valley are a tad worriesome, as I reckon they're the worst to pick winners on. Today is the first meeting this month where a POOMA is at a track outside Victoria. Rockhampton 5-1 Regal Megan comes from the highest performing system I have (19/26 @ 51% POT) and looks to have a strong chance. She's yet to win first up but those runs were away from this track where she has a good record. At Moonee Valley, 7-9 Testabel looks a fair chance to bring home the last leg of the quaddie even if she is stepping up in trip. 1-9 Miss Bridport is first up for the Tom Hughes stable. She's two from two first up at provincial tracks and her other two runs in the city have been OK. Will be e/w odds. 2-English Rose has drawn a tad wide from the 1000m start but if she can position up close, as she normally does, then she'll also be there at the end. The topweight, Lula, has been running around in stronger races and rounds out the multiples chances. 2-1 Delvecchio will roll to the front and you'd have to think would be pretty hard to run down in what is an easier event than he ran in last time. 8-Newgrange comes out of the same race and they could easily run the quinella. If the 3YO fillies' form is any good then you'd have to think that 3-1 Satin Robes would have to go close. 3-Estelle Collection ran 2nd before a spell behind Sharkbite who ran 2nd to the new freak, Haradasun, the other day. I'll be taking that as a quinella. Of interest will be the first run of Canterbury 1-8 Musket. He's a 3/4 brother to Makybe Diva being by super sire, Redoute's Choice, out of Tugela. He's been entered and withdrawn a few times recently and will need to have a reasonable amount of talent to get past 6-Traitor's Gate. He has Beadman aboard, is from the Hawkes stable and has the hype so he'll probably start short, which means that if you like something else then there'll be value. I reckon that Peter Moody has worked out that Sydney midweek racing is really weak and that he can take horses that would otherwise have to race in more competitive Victorian provincial fields up to Sydney and go for higher prizemoney. We saw that yesterday when Palace General came off a Warracknabeal $8 Class 3 win to smash them by 7L at Randwick. 7-4 Ankh Morpork comes from a comfortable Geelong Maiden win into this race and a repeat performance might be on the cards. Good luck if you're having a go today.

Yesterday: The non-POOMAs did pretty well yesterday with 4 wins and a 2nd from 5 selections. As mentioned, I was driving from Melbourne to Canberra and thought I'd put on a couple of quaddies and stand out one of the selections at each meeting. Ended up putting out $108 and getting back $900 with both quaddies saluting. What was amazing is what they paid. At Bairnsdale the winners paid $2.40, $11.30, $3.30 and $2.80 which as an all up is $251 but it paid $421. At Randwick the winners were $1.50, $6.50, $3.60 and $6.80 which is an all up of $238 and it paid an amazing $484. Quaddies tend to pay more than the all up, of course, but those results are a bit higher than you'd expect, especially with a Peter Moody trained $1.50 shot winning the first leg. If you are ever driving from Melbourne to Canberra then make sure to stop and refuel at the Caltex that is on the final stretch out of Albury. It's got a Hungry Jacks connected with it and when you fill up you get a 2 for 1 hamburger voucher. I always get a $2 Cheeseburger, which is accompanied by a 2nd, free Cheeseburger (which is plenty) and that provides sustenance to help me on the three hour leg to Canberra (it's a 7 hour run overall with the pitstop).

POOMAs: There were no POOMA selections yesterday.