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Joe Pride‘s dual The Everest placegetter and standout sprinter-miler, Private Eye, will start favourite in his rescheduled campaign kick-off at Caulfield on Saturday in a top-class 2025 P.B. Lawrence Stakes field.
The Group 2 $300,000 P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) field is stacked with talent, boosted further by the abandonment and subsequent cancellation of Sydney’s Group 2 Missile Stakes (1200m).
Many of the Missile acceptors are now in the mix for the Lawrence further south over an extra furlong making for an intriguing edition of the key carnival lead-up which is full of depth this year.
One of those that has had an early spring adjustment is Private Eye, the eight-year-old son of Al Maher now the $3.60 favourite in PB Lawrence Stakes betting at Ladbrokes.com.au.
In an absolutely outstanding edition of the PB Lawrence, Private Eye still looks the classiest horse in the race and deserving top pick despite having to run first-up over 1400m at a track he’s yet to officially have a start over.
He was the Missile favourite and still very much in favour with the punters for his “Plan B” further south with an extra 200m to run fresh on Saturday.
He’s got a great first-up record (11:4-1-2) and the $12.2 million earner has plenty of 1400m form too (6:1-2-2).
Pride will have made the necessary adjustments to his work through the week to have him ready to go, and he jumps from gate eight with Nash Rawiller in the saddle having his first run since a game third in Brisbane’s Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap over the winter.
Narrow second elect following closely at PB Lawrence Stakes odds of $4 is Lindsay Park‘s new season four-year-old and potential spring sensation, Evaporate, who also gets his new campaign underway.
Last year’s Caulfield Guineas third placegetter has plenty of pre-race support to win fresh and salute first-up for the first time.
The classy Per Incanto gelding showed plenty of grit with some luckless runs last campaign, including fourth to Mr Brightside in the Futurity at this track and trip when things didn’t go his way.
He was runner-up in the inaugural The Kiwi slot race across the Tasman before a barnstorming romp home by a big margin in Randwick’s Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes back in April at his latest start.
His two lead-up hit-out wins at Flemington have been outstanding and he looks a genuine chance to get the job done for favourite backers in the weekend’s feature race.
Another of the standout single-figure PB Lawrence picks for Ben, Will & JD Hayes is Evaporate’s older, Group 1 winning stablemate Here To Shock ($7).
Drawn the outside alley (11 of 11) for jockey Daniel Stackhouse to navigate from, the consistent eight-year-old son of Shocking was last seen running second in Sydney’s Group 1 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Randwick when narrowly denied by Royal Patronage at the start of March.
That was a terrific performance by the evergreen warhorse following his return home having travelled across the Tasman the start prior to win New Zealand’s Group 1 BCD Group Sprint.
He’s shown a terrific past affinity for the Caulfield track (6:2-3-0), performs well at all stages of a campaign including first-up (8:1-2-2) and is one of the genuine 1400m horses in this race (18:9-3-1).
Equal at $7 on the third line of betting with Here To Shock is another resuming runner, Sepals, for Morington horseman Cliff Brown.
The consistent Calyx gelding races as a four-year-old for the first time coming into the race lightly-raced having won three of his five starts to date.
His 1400m record is flawless with all three of his career wins being over Saturday’s distance including his impressive three length romp home in the Group 3 CS Hayes at Flemington back in mid-February.
He more than held his own when up in grade for the Group 1 Australian Guineas over the mile at his latest in the autumn crossing the line only two lengths back fourth to Feroce in a very nice indication of something big this spring.
More mature and well up to this grade, Sepals will jump from barrier seven with Ethan Brown coming aboard for the run.
The last of the current single-figure fancies in an open market paying $8 to salute is then the rails-drawn Desert Lightning from the Moody/Coleman camp.
The Kiwi-bred Pride Of Dubai gelding is winless from six previous attempts at 1400m but has been competitive in plenty of top-tier races including his fourth in the Stradbroke back in mid-June which is looking a nice form race for the spring.
At Caulfield he just missed out on a run in the money in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) last October when beaten a far margin by the emphatic winner Antino so he is not out of place in the Lawrence field.
The 2025 P.B. Lawrence Stakes is set to run as Caulfield Race 8 at 4:35pm (AEST) on Saturday.
| 1. Private Eye (7) J: Nash Rawiller59kg 14x3xT: Joseph Pride | ||
| 5. Desert Lightning (1) J: Ben Melham59kg 8024xT: Peter G Moody & Katherine Coleman | ||
| 2. Here To Shock (9) J: Daniel Stackhouse59kg 0112xT: Ben, Will & Jd Hayes | ||
| 8. Moira (6) J: Damian Lane57kg 21x0xT: Chris Waller | ||
| 6. Evaporate (3) J: Blake Shinn58.5kg 3421xT: Ben, Will & Jd Hayes | ||
| 9. Anisette (5) J: Mark Zahra57kg 39x0xT: Chris Waller | ||
| 4. Pinstriped (8) J: Ben Allen59kg 6x97xT: Enver Jusufovic | ||
| 11. Yellow Sam (2) J: Jamie Mott57kg x1133T: Lindsey Smith | ||
| 3. Attrition (4) J: Beau Mertens59kg x828xT: Mitchell Freedman |
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