Eagle Farm racing tips & value bets – Saturday, 29 August 2020
We are back at Eagle Farm on Saturday for a bumper nine-race program that will see exciting horses like Kisukano (R3), The Candy Man (R5) and Desert Lord (R8) in the mix. The track is rated a Good 4, with the rail in the 5.5m position throughout. The first field will be behind the gates early for an 11:38am AEST start.
Free betting tips for Eagle Farm
We’ll be waiting a while to cheer the best of the day home, but it’ll be well worth it when Matty McGillivray hops aboard Kris Lees’ mare Aliferous. While she hasn’t won for over a year and only has the one placing from four goes second up, she looks to be perfectly placed in this 1825m Open Handicap. She comes off a slashing third on a Heavy 10 at Randwick last start in the Spring Preview, finishing behind Man Of Peace and Angel Of Truth. She is likely to settle slightly worse than midfield from barrier eight but will be suited by the quick tempo and the big straight to finish over the top. She won both her Maiden Plate and Class 1 on top of the ground, which she should appreciate here.
Jim O’Shea takes his big grey to town on Saturday for a No Metro Wins race over 1600m. He placed third last time out at this course in a much tougher race and steps up to the mile for just the third time in his 47-race career (47:11-9-11). He placed in the Rockhampton Cup two starts back over this distance and should produce a similar run here. He’s been dished out the visitors draw in the majority of his metro races to date, but he should be able to settle a little closer from gate three this time and utilise his Chautauqua-like finish. Elly Smith has come down for the ride and will claim 3kg, getting the Bradbury’s Luck seven-year-old down to just 56.5kg in the weights. With any luck, he settles closer and the short-priced favourite will be out the back with too much to do. We expect this will be Barachiel’s last NMW race.
The Candy Man is Queensland’s favourite grey, if not Australia’s, and we cannot believe he was put up at around $11. He loves Eagle Farm, goes well fresh and has never been out of the top two over 1400m. He does have weight against him, however, with 5kg more than Snitch in saddlecloth no.2 and 7kg more than the minimum, which is carried by seven of the nine starters. He has won 10 of 22 races and was an impressive trial winner at Deagon a fortnight ago, so he should be wound up for his first-up task. Drawn in gate three, he can be in a great position behind the speed under champion jockey Brad Stewart and make his presence known as he starts his campaign with the Epsom Handicap in mind. There’s already been a bit of specking which has seen him firm into as little as $7 with some online bookmakers.