Morphettville tips, value bets & top odds | Saturday, July 31

Morphettville Racecourse is set to host its second race meeting within the space of 24 hours, and HorseBetting.com.au’s South Australian form expert presents his best bets and quaddie numbers for the nine-part card on the course proper this Saturday afternoon. The track is rated a Heavy 8 with the rail returning to the true position, and the meeting is set to get underway at 11:52am ACST (12:22pm AEST).

Lightning Stakes Top Tip: Beau Rossa

The Listed Lightning Stakes is the feature event on Saturday afternoon, and we are siding with the Will Clarken-trained Beau Rossa. The three-year-old son of Unencumbered reach a career-high when taking out the Group 2 Tobin Bronze Stakes during the autumn and looks the one to catch in this 1050m event. Despite being well beaten in the Group 1 The Goodwood at his next start, he should prove too classy for this field. Expect to see Todd Pannell have him settled in the second half of the field, and with a sharp turn of foot he should swamp his rivals in the concluding stages.

Morphettville Best Bet: Clap

The Richard & Chantelle Jolly-trained Clap has managed to string together consecutive wins to begin this campaign, including a narrow victory on the Parks track at Morphettville on July 17. Despite falling in by the barest of margins on that day, the extra 250m he gets on Saturday when stepping up to 1500m should benefit him supremely. From barrier 12, expect to see Jake Toeroek to send forward the son of Night Of Thunder so he can dictate terms and then kick clear in the home straight to bring up his third straight win this campaign.

Next Best at Morphettville: Meteorite

The Tony & Calvin McEvoy-trained Meteorite is a personal favourite of ours, and it is hard to see how he gets beaten on Saturday. He loves Heavy tracks, with two wins from as many starts, and his last-start ninth on a firm deck at Caulfield on July 10 looks like a complete forgive run. Barend Vorster hops on board and from barrier eight will look to settle just outside the leader, much as he did at Mornington two starts back when kicking clear in the home straight and finishing strongly through the line. If he brings that same effort on Saturday, Meteorite should prove too speedy for this field in tough conditions.

Best Value at Morphettville: Mr Joobs

Forget the Phillip Stokes-trained Mr Joobs even went around over this track and distance on July 24; that was a bottomless surface and unless you were up on speed, you were no hope of winning. Despite the track being a Heavy 8 this weekend, it should play a bit more fairly and give backmarkers their chance. This three-year-old gelding has been mixing his form since his win on the Pakenham synthetic on May 31, but if he brings his best on Saturday, he will be hard to hold out as he has shown the ability to sustain a long run from the rear of the field.

Morphettville quaddie tips for July 31, 2021