Group 1 racing continues in Melbourne on Saturday in the form of the 2016 Makybe Diva Stakes, betting tips and updated odds for the Flemington weight-for-age feature found below.
Black Heart Bart is the short-priced favourite who looks hard to beat in Saturday’s Makybe Diva Stakes 2016. Photo: Jenny Barnes.
Stealing the show as Flemington Race 7 at 4:10pm (AEST) on the weekend, this season’s $500,000 Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) features 13 hopefuls led in betting at Ladbrokes.com.au by Black Heart Bart ($2.30).
Darren Weir’s multiple Group 1 winner was last seen taking out the Memsie Stakes (1400m) first-up at weight-for-age at Caulfield a fortnight back and looks the one to beat again here from barrier eight with the race’s four-time winning hoop Damien Oliver riding.
Black Heart Bart’s biggest danger is stablemate Palentino ($6) according to the Makybe Diva Stakes odds, the Australian Guineas winning four-year-old a proven performer at this track and distance.
Memsie Stakes runner-up Rising Romance ($8.50) is also right in the mix again, while the rest of the runners are at double-figures opening things up value-wise.
So will Black Heart Bart salute for the punters for just the third time in a decade or is there a Makybe Diva Stakes upset pending from the likes of last year’s VRC Derby winner Tarzino ($11), Caulfield Cup third placed stayer Our Ivanhowe ($11) in his resuming run or the sole five-year-old in the line-up Alpine Eagle ($14)?
1st
#3 Black Heart Bart ($2.30)
He is short in betting but hard to bet against based on his lead-up win in the Memsie Stakes and consistency over the past season. The mile will stretch this former Perth galloper who is yet to win over further than 1420m, but is suited to WFA and has the race’s most successful jockey D. Oliver aboard. Good mid-field draw and plenty of boxes ticked.
2nd
#7 He Or She ($19)
Love the odds offered on this Lindsay Park-trained six-year-old who is three-from-five over the mile including the Group 2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) success at the track / distance over The United States in the autumn. First-up run produced a seventh in the Memsie, but will be better second-up (4-2-1-0) at Flemington over the extra metres. Three-time winning hoop Craig Williams rides and co-trainer David Hayes chases his fourth win in the race.
3rd
#9 Tarzino ($11)
Another value tip at double-figures, Mick Price’s four-year-old is a dual Group 1 winner including the VRC Derby last year and the Rosehill Guineas this autumn. The mile is short of his best, but he’s won over the distance and wasn’t far off Palentino in the Australian Guineas as a three-year-old. Second-up can improve off the Memsie Stakes eighth.
Get behind our insider Makybe Diva Stakes 2016 betting tips or lock in your own selections in the latest elite level of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival online now at Ladbrokes.com.au – home of Odds Boost (T&Cs apply).
