The Boys at Cha-Ching Are Back With Their Horse Racing Preview

The racing spotlight will be on Melbourne and Sydney this weekend where the respective autumn carnivals are getting closer to commencement.

Racing returns to Flemington in Melbourne where the Chester Manifold and RDA Victoria Stakes both at listed level are the two feature events on the card. The Chester Manifold Stakes market is headed by Cargo Cult at $5.50 who was a winner against similar company last week at Caulfield. That was his first win for a while and should enjoy the wide open spaces of Flemington. Second favourite Publishing was an upset winner of the Standish Handicap last start and has always had a strong wrap on him. The ever consistent Stickpin and Royal Ida both have to be given a strong hope in what is a very open race.

The RDA Victoria Stakes is an interesting race with the Mick Price trained filly Bel Mer the early favourite at $3.50. She is only a 3yo taking on the older horses but has form around a lot of the top 3yo's in the spring. Last start Flemington winner Grand Duels has to be rated a hope at the $6.50 mark having won down the straight at his last start. He meets a slightly better field here but has always shown the ability that he can be up to these horses. Pencelaron looks the other main hope as he has been around the mark in better races recently and has a definite liking to the straight course. There looks to be plenty of speed in this race and Pencelaron should be able to get a lovely sit behind the speed and barring bad luck should be right in the finish.

Racing in Sydney is at Rosehill Gardens where the Festival Stakes is the main attraction. This race sees the return to the track of star galloper Eremein after an injury. He has been asked to carry the massive impost of 61kg and is $3.60 in early markets. Even though he is the class runner this price looks under the odds considering he is coming off an injury and has not raced for 10-12 months. The pre-post favourite is the Paul Messara trained Alverta who failed narrowly behind Takeover Target first up before running 3rd in the Villiers second up. The step up to 1500m should suit and she gets a nice weight relief off Eremein. The only other hope looks to be the Gai Waterhouse trained Amianan who is a half brother to Desert War. He is a bold front running type who is sure to give backers a great sight here. He is coming off a win at Rosehill last week where he looked under fire at the top of the straight before fighting them all off to pull away and win. If he can get his own way in front here he should prove mighty hard to run down at the $3.00 mark.

The other interesting runner of the day is in Race 5 where the Jack Denham trained 3yo Isurava goes round. This horse hasn't started since winning the Australia Post Stakes at Eagle Farm in June and if he is anywhere near right he should be winning. Watch out for him in some feature events throughout the Sydney Autumn carnival.

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