Flemington Racecourse is host to the 2018 Blamey Stakes on Saturday, betting tips and update odds on the mile autumn showdown detailed below.
Humidor is the Races.com.au tip to win Saturday’s Blamey Stakes 2018 at Flemington Racecourse. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
Due to run as Flemington Race 5 at 3:10pm (AEDT), the line-up for this season’s Group 2 $200,000 Blamey Stakes (1600m) is down to only five starters with the scratching of Radipole who races in Sydney’s Ajax Stakes on the same day instead.
Blamey Stakes betting is a battle of the Darren Weir-trained Group 1 winners Tosen Stardom ($2.25) and Humidor ($2.40) with nothing separating the class stablemates.
Runner-up in the race last Melbourne Festival of Racing and a dual Group 1 winner since, Japanese import Tosen Stardom comes off a good second to the also Weir-trained Brave Smash in the Group 1 Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on February 24.
The seven-year-old presents fitter here again and he has Brad Rawiller aboard chasing his first win since the Group 1 Emirates Stakes (2000m) at Flemington last Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Weir’s rails-drawn Teofilo five-year-old Humidor is also a Futurity Stakes graduate having run a first-up fourth.
His second-up record is outstanding (4:2-1-0) as is his mile form (5:3-1-0).
It is hard to see anything outside of the Weir two challenging but the next best in the Blamey Stakes odds are Scott Brunton’s flying Tasmanian raider Hellova Street ($8) chasing a third win on the trot and the locally-trained Zacinto four-year-old Odeon ($8.50) before Lindsay Park’s Cool Chap ($15) rounds things out.
So will the Weir duo dominate or is there an upset Blamey Stakes 2018 result on the cards?
1st
#2 Humidor ($2.40)
Going for the “value” and tipping the slightly longer-priced of the Weir horses to get the job done second-up. Humidor will get things his way from the inside alley against just four rivals and has Mark Zahra coming aboard for the run. It’s been a while since his last win, but it was over this track and distance against a much tougher line-up when defeating Hartnell by over three lengths in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) last September. Twice placed in Group 1 company since behind the champion mare Winx, including giving her a great run for her money in the Cox Plate. Futurity Stakes fourth was solid, is a second-up specialist (4:2-1-0) and loves the mile (5:3-1-0).
2nd
#1 Tosen Stardom ($2.25)
Favourite tipped to go one better than his second in last year’s Blamey Stakes. Improved hugely second-up in the Futurity Stakes and was only three-quarters beaten. This is far easier. Beat the resuming Humidor home in that and is also better suited to the mile. Only has to hold out Humidor again to win.
3rd
#3 Hellova Street ($8)
Ultra-consistent Tasmanian-trained seven-year-old who hasn’t finished out of the money in his past eight starts. A bit toughly weighted only a kilo under the Weir duo, but his lead-up has been outstanding including a black-type Launceston win at home over this distance by three and a half lengths. Mile record is very strong (7:3-2-1) and is well accustomed to racing in Melbourne. Was second in the Sandown Stakes last November and is two-from-three at Flemington including the Group 3 Chatham Stakes win here in the spring.
Get in on our exclusive Blamey Stakes 2018 tips and access all the weekend’s best racing odds and offers online now through Ladbrokes.com.au.
