| What | Canterbury Races |
| Where | Canterbury Park Racecourse – King St, Canterbury NSW |
| When | Friday, January 7, 2022 |
| Feature Race | Race 5 | Listed Christmas Classic (1200m) |
| First Race | 6:00pm AEDT |
| Watch Live | |
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Streaming Live at Sportsbet |
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HorseBetting’s New South Wales form analyst has previewed the eight-race card at Canterbury on Friday night and brings you his best bets, value bet and quaddie numbers for the meeting, as well as his best bet in the feature race, the Listed Christmas Classic. The track is rated a Good 4 and the rail is in the true position for the entire course, so we are likely to see those on speed runners hard to run down throughout the course of the night. The first race is scheduled to jump at 6:00pm AEDT.
Listed Christmas Classic Best Bet
John O’Shea and Hugh Bowman combine with the ever-consistent Southern Lad in Friday night’s feature race. The seven-year-old gelding resumed with a good win on Melbourne Cup Day at Randwick in a Benchmark 100 over 1100m, before running eighth in the Starlight Stakes and third in the Razorsharp Handicap, with the latter coming 2.45 lengths off Special Reward, who he meets 3.5kg better at the weights. The son of Ocean Park raced at Doomben on Boxing Day in the Falvelon Quality, but he just whacked away to finish ninth. O’Shea has been quick to bring him back to Sydney and likely target this race in particularly, given he is undefeated in two starts at this track and distance. Southern Lad has drawn the outside alley, but it is only a small field of seven, so Bowman can keep him out of trouble and finish strongly late. He has the class to win this race, and the dry track will only help.
Canterbury’s Best Bet Of The Night
We are backing a couple of first starters on Friday, and our best bet is one of them after a couple of good trials. The third race of the night is a 3YO Fillies’ Maiden over 1100m, and Mark Newnham saddles up the race favourite, Tick Tick Tick. This filly by Hinchinbrook trialled for the first time on December 8, 2020 behind Four Moves Ahead, so she has either had some issues or was quite an immature two-year-old, so Newnham put her away at the end of the Autumn and brought her back in December 2021, where she has trialled twice and won each of the 800m hit outs at Warwick Farm. The filly’s first-up trial was impressive to the eye, as she defeated Po Kare Kare who was impressive on debut on Wednesday at Warwick Farm running third to Trifaccia. Tom Sherry does the riding on Friday, so his 1.5kg claim can be made useful should he take bad luck out of the equation and lead on this promising galloper from gate six. She can make a winning debut on Friday.
Next Best Bet
Although not on debut, Sneaky Shark will be having his first Australian start, after racing in New Zealand as a two-year-old. The now three-year-old has had four starts in his career, running second twice, including in the 2021 Karaka Millions 2YO behind subsequent Group 1 winner, On The Bubbles. That gelding boasts some of the best two and three-year-old form in New Zealand, having had eight starts for five wins and three seconds, so Sneaky Shark’s form should measure up. John O’Shea now trains the son of Capitalist, with the Group 1-winning trainer opting to come into this 1100m race fresh off three trials, so he should be fit enough to fire in his first Australian start. Hugh Bowman will take the reigns from gate six, which is a positive sign as he has ridden this gelding in all three of his trials leading up to this. He is likely to be handy in the run, and we expect class to take him a long way.
Best Value At Canterbury
It’s not often that you see one of Chris Waller’s debut at $81, but despite two nice trials, that’s the price that has been dished up for Madame Pommery in the opener. The two-year-old filly by No Nay Never has had two trials where she has finished a close up second, before proving too sharp at this tack on December 21, winning the heat by two tenths of a length. In that trial, Madame Pommery ran a time of 56.63s, which in comparison to some of the other 2YO heats that morning wasn’t overly quick, but she still had a bit in the tank. Portray lines up here as the $4 second favourite after winning her trial in a time of 56.22s on the same day, while the Freedman stable look to debut their colt Current King ($14), after he ran the exact same time as Madame Pommery at the trials in a later heat. Barrier 15 is a touch sticky, there’s no denying that, but the $81 on offer seems absurd for a filly from an astute stable on the back of two trials which showed she has the ability to win races. We’re happy to have a small each-way play to kick-start the night.
Friday quaddie tips for Canterbury
| Canterbury quadrella selections | |
|---|---|
| Leg 1: | 1-2-3-4 |
| Leg 2: | 2-3-6-7 |
| Leg 3: | 1-2-4-11 |
| Leg 4: | 1-3-4-9 |
| Investment: | $256 for 100% |
