Grant Williams’ in-form mare Elite Belle is the clear favourite in Belmont Sprint 2014 betting for the Perth feature this weekend.
Heading the action at Belmont Park on Saturday running as Race 7, this year’s $125,000 Group 3 Belmont Sprint (1400m) features a final field of 10 hopefuls.
There are some very notable omissions from the line-up however with injury plaguing the field of stars including triple Group 1 winner Luckygray and Rohan.
Of those fit to line-up the bookies rate Canny Lad five-year-old Elite Belle as the one most likely as she sits top of the Belmont Sprint odds at a quote of $2.40.
Elite Belle came up trumps in the Belmont Sprint barrier draw coming up with the inside alley for the end-of-autumn showdown with William Pike to ride on the 54kg minimum.
Regular rider Pike was aboard for her first-up effort at the same track on May 17 when second behind Magnifisio in the Group 3 Roma Cup (1200m).
Connections of Roma Cup winner Magnifisio opted not to back them up as they would have been forced to carry the 58kg top-weight leaving Elite Belle with a top chance to go one better after going down by just a quarter length last time out.
Close second pick in the Belmont Sprint markets at $3.40 is then market mover Checkpoint who is also second-up for the season here.
Brad Parnhams’ mount is another on 54kg, a nice weight for the consistent Neville Parnham-trained Snitzel five-year-old who had 58.5kg on their back when third in the Roma Cup last time out.
There was just a nose between Checkpoint and runner-up Elite Belle in that race, and even from a wider barrier seven draw for Saturday this top Group performer could beat home the mare in the rematch.
The other two at single figures to win Belmont’s major on the weekend are then Kalahaar ($4.80) in barrier four and Ranger ($9.50) in gate six.
Steve Wolfe’s Choisir gelding Kalahaar has Black Type winning form at the track from last season and is a Belmont Park specialist so improvement is expected on their Roma Cup sixth when resuming.
Their second-up record is very, very good (4-3-1-0) so that coupled with their form on the course here could be enough to get them over the line.
The Adam Durrant-trained Testa Rossa seven-year-old Ranger meanwhile is equal 58kg top-weight with Luckygray out and so gives plenty of weight to some class rivals.
Still they aren’t without their claims second-up having run fifth in the Roma Cup in a blanket finish with under half a length between them and the winner.
See below for the full Roma Cup 2014 odds, fixed win prices open now online at Ladbrokes.com.au where punters have instant access to their winnings in cash thanks to their Ladbrokes EFTPOS Card system!
