Ahead of Saturday night’s TAB Australian Cup extravaganza, Horsham will set the scene for a massive two days of feature racing on Friday afternoon, staging six heats of the Group 2 Taylor’s Palace Hotel Horsham Cup.
After sensationally breaking the Horsham 485m track record of former superstar Shima Shine earlier this month, Soda Titan is TAB’s $4 ‘All In’ favourite, ahead of Group 2 Traralgon Cup winner and Group 2 Bendigo Cup placegetter Typhoon Sammy at $5.50.
Click HERE for TAB’s ‘All In’ Horsham Cup market
However, form analyst The Watchdog has mixed opinions about the two market leaders.
“TAB has installed Soda Titan favourite and rightly so, on the back of his track record run recently,” The Watchdog said.
“He should be winning the last heat.”
“Hill Top Jack is three-of-three at Horsham … (he’s the) recent Launceston Cup winner, so he’s got to be respected.”
– THE WATCHDOG
“Typhoon Sammy has come up with ‘the red’ and everything points to him qualifying. But the 485m at Horsham is a really tough run, he’s never been there before and he might get a little bit lost through that first turn.
“One thing in his favour is he’s got Handsome Rhino on his outside, so Handsome Rhino will move wide and could create that passage for him.
“Horsham is the type of track where you want to have a bit of experience, that first turn can be hard to navigate, and it’s a really strong run home.”
The Watchdog’s $50 spend
$10 on Decimate to win at $18
$10 on Hill Top Jack to win at $18
$10 on Hebridean Black to win at $34
$10 on Xavien Bale to win at $34
$10 on Old News to win at $51
Following a ‘horses for courses’ approach, The Watchdog has identified plenty of value in TAB’s ‘All In’ market.
His first suggested ‘investment’ comes in the opening heat in Hill Top Jack, litter brother and kennelmate to Group 1 Melbourne Cup hero Koblenz and unbeaten at Horsham, at an $18 ‘All In’ quote.
“He’s three-of-three at Horsham, will get a nice cart across from Dream Wizard, (he’s the) recent Launceston Cup winner, so he’s got to be respected,” said The Watchdog.
In heat three, The Watchdog likes the chances of Decimate and Hebridean Black at $18 and $34 respectively.
Then in heat five, he fancies Xavien Bale, which is undefeated in two visits to Horsham, at $34 and the awkwardly drawn Old News at an appealing $51.
“I don’t have him (Old News) on top in my tips in this race,” The Watchdog explained.
“He’s going to need a lot of things to go his way, but he is at $51 in the ‘pre-post’, which I think is value. Had he drawn ‘the pink’, he would’ve been around $10 in ‘pre-post’ and a short-priced favourite in his heat.”
WATCH: XAVIEN BALE (1) was untroubled when victorious in a heat of the Group 1 Silver Chief (525m) at The Meadows in 29.85 seconds on December 22. Results
