SELECTIONS - 18 October 2006

POOMA selections:

There are no POOMA selections today

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

Caulfield 2-2, 3-4, 5-1, 5-2, 6-16
Murray Bridge 8-8
Warwick Farm 2-5

Today: At Caulfield, which is a really tricky meeting at which I'm assuming that the dead track will be upgraded to good, I'm going for a bit of value with some near POOMA but not quite selections. 2-2 Aadelaidee should be right on the pace and in the finish somewhere. I rate this one a genuine $4 shot and I think we'll get much better than that. Her last run before a spell was a 2nd in the open age Listed fillies' race in Adelaide in which Reshuffles wooshed home from back in the field to win. 3rd home was Follow The Till and if you put that filly in this race then she'd start even money. 3-4 Little Sai Wan arrives from Sydney from the in form Anthony Cummings stable. He won his first start comfortably at Newcastle before running down the track behind Court Commands at Randwick but he did draw wide and had a pretty chequered passage. He then settled really well in Class 3 company at Warwick Farm and got to the line strongly in sharp time to win in the last few bounds. The mile trip and inside draw at his first go around Caulfield will help and $8+ looks good to me. 6-16 Safwa is a really good mare that is going to get back in the field from her wide gate but will have conditions to suit, I think, with a pretty strong pace. Glen Boss is a big race genius and that will be a big advantage for a Sydneysider having its first start the left-handed way of going, especially at the tricky Caulfield circuit. Miss Finland is a terrific filly but I think she might be up against it tomorrow. Cheeky Choice looks to get an easy lead and will set a moderate tempo as far as I can see. My Only Hope sits right behind the speed with She Will Be Loved crossing to sit outside her. Meanwhile, Miss Finland is probably 5L off them. Cheeky Choice is no slouch, as she showed last time when sustaining a long sprint to win the Flight Stakes, which will make it really tough for Miss Finland to run her down. I can see My Only Hope popping off the rail to grab them near the post at nice odds. At Warwick Farm the track is also dead and I'd expect an upgrade there also. 2-5 Blonde Degree has killed them out in the country at two of her last three starts with a failure in between on a bog track at Canterbury. She is in this race up to her ears. 7-4 Scorpio Star was beaten narrowly by Patronize at Newcastle first up and can turn the tables today. Mind you, the race has the look of one of those funny-smelling ones I've been concerned about in Sydney for a little while...Up at Doomben 7-4 Spur Me On is very well in and should go close. Pretty hard races everywhere so caution is definitely advised.

I've had some requests for selections in all of the races at Caulfield so here we go:

1=5,1,3
2=2,7,5
3=4,6,8
4=13,16,5
5=5,1,2
6=16,10,1
7=10,7,12
8=4,3,5

Yesterday: Not much to report. The hurdle at Warrnambool saw Waaria win comfortably after settling out the back. He was a beaten POOMA at his last run and I should have backed up on him even though I don't like them at their next start after they've had a tumble. One to follow is Colonialism, which returned from a 51 day break, stepped up in trip, worked hard outside the leader, was challenged again entering the straight and then drew away to win comfortably. Nice effort.

POOMAs: There were no POOMA selections yesterday.