This Saturday December 4, Rosehill Racecourse in Sydney will host an exciting day of racing with the highlight event on the card being the $100,000 Listed Festival Stakes (1500m).
The final field of runners for the 2010 Festival Stakes has been announced, with 14 horses set to contest the feature.
Hawkesbury Gold Cup winner Thankgodyou’rehere is likely to start the favourite in the Festival Stakes odds, the super consistent Secret Savings gelding due to jump from barrier seven with Rod Quinn in the mount as they seek their eighth win from just 12 starts.
Strat’s Flyer has come up trumps in the Festival Stakes barrier draw, the Allan Denham-trained seven-year-old due to jump from barrier one champion hoop Hugh Bowman aboard.
Coming off two consistent runs at Rosehill finishing second and fourth respectively, Strat’s Flyer’s main challenge on Saturday will be the hefty 58kg weight they are allocated to carry.
One of the other early fancies in the Festival Stakes field is the Gai Waterhouse-trained Stratofortress, the Nash Rawiller mount drawn ideally in barrier three.
Six-year-old Stratofortress is resuming after nearly a three month spell, before which they claimed victory in the Group 3 Newcastle Cup (2300m).
John O’Shea’s classy gelding Informality, who took out the CFMEU Construction Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill last start, has suffered a blow drawing wide with barrier 10 for Saturday.
An excellent light-weight chance in the field is four-year-old Southern Skye, the Paul Perry-trained Danasinga gelding due to carry just 53kg dropping well back in weight from the 57kg they carried to finish second in a 1200m sprint here last start.
The 2010 De Bortoli Wines Festival Stakes is scheduled to run as Race 6 at Rosehill on Saturday and betting markets are due to open at our preferred online bookmaker Luxbet shortly.
Get ready for the Sydney racing action now by opening an account with Luxbet, and check out the early odds for the weekend’s premier showdown, the Group 1 Kingston Town Classic at Ascot while you’re there!
2010 Festival Stakes Final Field, Barrier Draw & Weights
| # | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Barrier | Weight (kg) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | STRAT’S FLYER | Allan Denham | Hugh Bowman | 1 | 58 |
| 2 | STRATOFORTRESS (NZ) | Gai Waterhouse | Nash Rawiller | 3 | 57.5 |
| 3 | MENTALITY | Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes | Josh Adams (a) | 4 | 57 |
| 4 | ADNOCON | Gerald Ryan | Glyn Schofield | 12 | 56.5 |
| 5 | INFORMALITY | John O’Shea | Christian Reith | 10 | 56.5 |
| 6 | PARTHIAN | Peter Snowden | Kerrin McEvoy | 8 | 56 |
| 7 | EMPEROR BONAPARTE (NZ) | David Payne | Brad Pengelly | 11 | 55.5 |
| 8 | THANKGODYOU’REHERE | Patrick & Wayne Webster | Rod Quinn | 7 | 55 |
| 9 | MIRRASALO | Paul Messara | Blake Spriggs (a) | 5 | 53 |
| 10 | DYSPHONIA | Peter Snowden | Tommy Berry (a) | 6 | 53 |
| 11 | SOUTHERN SKYE | Paul Perry | Nathan Berry (a) | 14 | 53 |
| 12 | LANG (NZ) | Gwenda Markwell | Taylor Lovelock-Wiggins (a) | 9 | 53 |
| 13 | CULLEN CASTLE | Garry White | Brenton Avdulla (a) | 2 | 53 |
| 14 | BACI AMORE | Jason Coyle | Peter Wells | 13 | 53 |
