Multiple Group 1 winning New Zealand galloper Volkstok’n’barrell is the headline acceptor and early favourite for The Wayne Wilson Mile 2016 at Eagle Farm Racecourse this Saturday in Brisbane.
Triple Group 1 winner Volkstok’n’barrell is firm favourite to take out Saturday’s 2016 The Wayne Wilson Mile. Photo: Steve Hart.
Due to run as Stradbroke Handicap Day Race 2 at 11:20am (AEST), this season’s $100,000 Listed The Wayne Wilson Mile (1600m) has attracted a full field of 18 milers plus an emergency.
Heading The Wayne Wilson Mile field and weights with a hefty 61kg allocation is the Donna Logan & Chris Gibbs-trained Tavistock four-year-old Volkstok’n’barrell.
He is an elite level winner down under having taken out the 2015 Rosehill Guineas before a third in that season’s ATC Derby and has won a subsequent two Group 1s at home in New Zealand this year.
His latest run was at Doomben on May 21 when running a close fourth to Our Ivanhowe in the Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) with 59kg on his back.
He may be going up in weights, but he is a three-time winner from five runs over the mile and dropping notably back in class is the firm $4 favourite in The Wayne Wilson Mile odds at Ladbrokes.com.au.
Just three other runners are also under $10 for the win in The Wayne Wilson Mile betting this Brisbane Winter Racing Carnival including $6 second favourite Religify who is in flying form.
Chris Waller saddles-up the Choisir five-year-old who has run top two in his five most recent starts.
After a win over 1350m at Rosehill carrying 60kg at the start of May, Religify comes off a close second behind Snippets Land in Doomben’s Group 3 BRC Sprint (1350m) from three weeks ago.
He goes up from 54.5kg to 56.5kg in the set weights plus penalties clash on Saturday and has Brazilian jockey Joao Morira riding from barrier 12, into 11 if the emergency Kazoom (5) fails to get a run.
The other single-figure fancies are the Peter & Paul Snowden-trained Pajaro ($7.50) and Hopfgarten ($8) drawn barriers seven and 18 respectively.
Align gelding Pajaro won the Listed Scone Cup (1600m) over this distance in mid-May before a second when under a length off Mighty Lucky a fortnight back in the Group 3 Lord Mayors Cup (1615m) on Doomben 10,000 Day.
Local hope Hopfgarten is prepared by Robert Heathcote, of Buffering fame, and has Damian Browne retaining the ride from the wide draw on the weekend.
A four-time winner at Eagle Farm, the Mossman five-year-old comes off a close Lord Mayors Cup fourth and shoots for his first win since a Black-Type success over 1200m at the Sunshine Coast in late April.
Heathcote has a further two The Wayne Wilson Mile runners this season with five-time winner of the distance Bewhatyouwannabe ($31) and Lordag ($41) drawn in barriers three and 10 respectively.
Shorter in the markets just outside the single-figure hopes are the likes of Waller’s recent Hawkesbury Cup winner Amovatio ($10), Sunshine Coast galloper Worthy Cause ($10), the John O’Shea-trained Scone Up / Lord Mayors Cup third placegetter Malice ($10) and four-year-old Hi World ($11) for Lee & Anthony Freedman.
Check out the full Wayne Wilson Mile 2016 field, barriers, jockeys and latest Fixed Win odds from our preferred bookmaker Ladbrokes.com.au below.
