Just five runners remain in this afternoon’s The Everest lead-up with six horses withdrawn from The Shorts field as part of the official 2019 George Main Stakes Day scratchings at Royal Randwick.
Dual The Everest champion Redzel is one of just five remaining runners in the 2019 The Shorts field at Randwick. Photo: Steve Hart.
Randwick Track Report – 21/09/2019
- Rail: True
- Penetrometer: 5.91
- Weather: Fine
- Track Type: Turf
- Track Rating: Soft (7)
- Irrigation: Nil
- Rainfall: Nil last 24 hrs; 82.mm last 7 days
There are 34 official scratchings from across the nine-race card for George Main Stakes Day in Sydney after connections of a host of horses were scared off by the Heavy-rated track earlier in the week.
With fine weather in Sydney for race day however and no rain forecast until late in the afternoon, the recently upgraded Randwick track rating of a Soft (7) looks set to remain.
It will still be a day where the punters come for the proven wet-trackers, although the change from a Heavy to Soft rating opens up betting on the remaining horses.
The race hardest hit by the Sydney race scratchings is the Group 2 $500,000 The Shorts (1100m) with six of the 11 final acceptors withdrawn from the sprint feature.
Many of the confirmed runners in next month’s $14 million The Everest (1200m) have been scratched with owners not wanting to give their gallopers a gut-buster on a mud track ahead of the world’s richest turf race.
The Shorts race scratchings are: #1 Santa Ana Lane, #4 Osborne Bulls, #5 Viridine, #8 In Her Time, #9 Sunlight and #11 Jonker.
It will still be an interesting race from a The Everest 2019 perspective with two-time Everest champion Redzel at $3.40 in The Shorts betting at Ladbrokes.com.au.
He follows Pierata ($2.40) who is now the race favourite, while the returning Classique Legend is the other danger at $3.50.
The meeting’s marquee race is the Group 1 $500,000 George Main Stakes (1600m) running as Race 7 and there are two scratchings from the field.
Run as the Colgate Optic White Stakes, the weight-for-age feature is down to nine runners with Chris Waller withdrawing Life Less Ordinary (9), while the Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott-trained Con Te Partiro (11) came out to run in Friday’s Group 3 Cameron Handicap (1500m) at Newcastle where he finished a disappointing 10th.
Earlier in the day the Flight Stakes-bound fillies face off in the Group 2 Tea Rose Stakes field where there are three confirmed scratchings led by the Godolphin-raced Flit.
See below for the full Randwick race scratchings in Sydney and official jump times for the George Main Stakes Day races before backing your spring selections at Ladbrokes.com.au.
Randwick Scratchings – 21/09/2019
Total Scratchings: 34
Race 1 (12:15pm) – $75,000 TAB Cobcroft Trust Highway Handicap (1000m)
- #1 Irish Songs (15)
- #4 Tuncoona (6)
- #5 Crowd Surfer (2)
- #6 Highway Sixtysix (7)
- #10 Hard Merchandise (17)
- #11 Plonka (18)
Race 2 (12:55pm) – $125,000 Schweppes Handicap (1400m)
- #1 Murillo (14)
- #3 Extreme Bliss (11)
Race 3 (1:30pm) – $125,000 Shoot Out Mile (1600m)
- #3 Articus (14)
- #6 Organza (11)
Race 4 (2:05pm) – Group 2 $200,000 Darley Tea Rose Stakes (1400m)
- #4 Flit (1)
- #8 Maddi Rocks (8)
- #11 Darling Point (6)
Race 5 (2:40pm) – Group 3 $160,000 Bill Ritchie Handicap (1400m)
- #2 Mantastic (12)
- #9 Kaonic (1)
Race 6 (3:15pm) – Group 2 $200,000 Bowermans Office Furniture Shorts (1100m)
- #1 Santa Ana Lane (5)
- #4 Osborne Bulls (6)
- #5 Viridine (8)
- #8 In Her Time (2)
- #9 Sunlight (7)
- #11 Jonker
Race 7 (3:55pm) – Group 1 $500,000 Colgate Optic White Stakes (1600m)
- #5 Life Less Ordinary (9)
- #10 Con Te Partiro (11)
Race 8 (4:35pm) – Group 3 $160,000 The Agency Real Estate Kingston Town Stakes (2000m)
- #5 Red Cardinal (15)
- #8 Our Century (20)
- #15 Saunter Boy (12)
- #20e Carif (5)
Race 9 (5:15pm) – $125,000 E-Group Security Handicap (1200m)
- #5 Bolero King (7)
- #10 Legend Of Condor (12)
- #12 After All That (4)
- #13 Prophet’s Thumb (13)
- #15 Viceroy (1)
- #16 Super Star Bob (16)
*All times quoted are local (AEST) and subject to change
