Townsville’s Cluden Park will host an eight-part provincial racing card on Thursday afternoon. The track is currently rated a Soft 5, and the rail is out 4m for the entire circumference of the course. HorseBetting.com.au’s Queensland racing experts brings you their best bets, value bet and quaddie numbers for the Townsville program, which is set to jump at 1:07pm local time.
Best Bet: Rigel
Steve Massingham and Nathan Day are set to have a field day at Townsville on Thursday with some great winning chances including both our best bet and our value pick. Rigel was a strong last-start winner at Cairns, coming from worse than midfield to win by three quarters of a length over 950m. Back to Townsville over 1200m, he should get a nice ride off the pace and be presented with a run in the straight from barrier seven.
Cracker Essgee lines up in the opener with some pretty good form around Waterway, Brigalow Boy, Ruby July and Princess Rules. Those runners are some of the best three-year-olds that North Queensland has to offer, so that form reads very well in this 3YO BM65. The Michael McLellan-trained gelding has had two runs this time in and generally takes a few runs to peak, so third up in a small field should be ideal over the 1200m. Ryan Wiggins onboard from the outside alley looks the perfect combo given Cracker Essgee is a big gelding who needs running room.
Dunatun, son of Snitzel, is another last-start winner for the Massingham/Day combination. The six-year-old gelding has had three starts at Townsville for a win, a second and a third, with his only 1200m effort at the track resulting in a two-length victory. Under Nathan Day from barrier two, he should land in the box seat and be able to pop out at the top of the straight and put paid to his rivals. He races well second up and has carried big weight before, so the 60.5kg shouldn’t be an issue.
