The Coast preview, tips and odds analysis | Gosford 8/5

The inaugural running of the $500,000 The Coast sees a decent field of three and four-year-old milers. As part of Racing New South Wales’ new racing program, The Coast has been added to Gosford’s standalone meeting, similar to The Gong and The Hunter.

There are 13 horses in The Coast field, with equal favourites All Saints’ Eve and Wheelhouse priced at the $6 quote two days out from the jump. Nimalee and Nudge then share the second-line at $7, while Arapaho ($8) and Brandenburg ($9) also have some fans. The speed will come from Nimalee and Electric Girl, while Wheelhouse, I Say Hello and Brandenburg will all hold forward spots.

We are going to fall for the spruik that came from one of Australia’s best jockeys, Craig Williams, and put Arapaho on top. The four-year-old entire made his Australian debut on April 24 and was quite unlucky, with Williams reporting that he would be extremely hard to beat next start at the mile. Check and check. Up to 1600m on Saturday sees the son of Lope de Vega in very well with 54kg, and from barrier seven he can be in the first few horses in the run with Tim Clark aboard. He is three from four on a Soft track, so a bit of cut out of the ground will only enhance his chance. At least we get a decent price to find out if the hype is real or not.

Failing the hype around Arapaho, we can resort back to our old faithful in Nimalee. Mark Newnham’s mare has barely put a foot wrong in recent starts, winning her first two runs this prep before finishing four lengths off Nettoyer in the Group 1 Queen of the Turf at Randwick on Day 2 of The Championships. She has drawn a touch wide in barrier nine, but Rachel King will take her forward and sit outside the leader which can be an advantage at Gosford. She has to carry the top-weight of 59kg, but she is the classiest runner in this field.

Nudge finally steps out to 1600m this campaign which could be enough to see her salute, but the wide barrier (11) just scares us a little bit. We had her on top last start when she just missed Rocha Clock in a driving finish over 1400m, but she got to settle closer that day which aided her. The Chris Waller-trained mare gets in well here with 52kg on minimum, and Kerrin McEvoy has a knack for winning these races at long odds, so his booking is a plus. The Fastnet Rock mare is going to get back in the run and be finishing strongly here again. Will she have too much to do late though?

The Coast betting strategy

Best bets for 2021 The Coast – Gosford