Friday Night Previews
With the annual PNE festival due to open on Saturday, Hastings hosts seven ultra-competitive heats on the final Friday Night Lights racing of the season - come celebrate the weekend!
It’s not immediately clear where the pace will come from here. JERSEY LILLIE has won off the front and is often prominently placed, while ANAAMY has also gone gate-to-wire and opponents probably won’t be best served by allowing her a soft lead. PINEAPPLE TIDBITS returns to familiar connections after being claimed back last time and she should again be a major factor. HARLAN’S ANGEL had ‘Tidbits’ behind when chasing home Arikara last time and a repeat of that would make her a leading player. Twice a winner already this term, IMA DAREDEVIL is another who, on her day, is easily capable of landing the spoils at this level.
A marginal step up in class for KAY’S KITCHEN but she’s on a hat-trick after winning twice last month and there may just be more to come from the 4yo, who dead-heated for second behind Shamra in a $20,000 claimer back in May. ARTISTIC JEWLER romped to a comfortable win over today’s distance last time, with rival ANIMA well behind, although this represents a marginally tougher assignment. SILK STILETTOS also won last time out and has been a consistent performer all season. She gets the assistance of leading rider Amadeo Perez and should make her presence felt again.
TIME TICKER swooped to conquer last time, closing late and fast to catch and pass pacesetter, and today’s rival, LOVEABOVEANDBEYOND. Prior to that, they had been running well enough against some of the best around and both are prime candidates to land this. INDYETTA rattled off three smart wins earlier this year before coming unstuck when stepped up to 8½ furlongs and, more crucially, Allowance level. She should be a different proposition again this evening.
AQUITANIA ARRIVAL disappointed a little when flattening out behind Bold Arch and co last time. That run, which saw today’s rival I’M CORFU snatch third from the short-priced favourite, came on the back of a brave third-place in the Budweiser Stakes at Emerald Downs and he’ll be a handful here if he can repeat that effort. Stablemate STORMY BLUE drops back to sprinting after three unsuccessful efforts over the ‘long’ course. He was runner-up in both sprinting efforts at Allowance level earlier in the season and definitely needs to be on the shortlist. FINDING WAYS had FOREIGN PROTOCOL behind when winning last time but this looks a tougher task for both.
OSTRACIZE has been operating at a slightly higher altitude than most of these and returns here on the back of a third-place finish behind Silk Stilettos and Irish Luna over the same distance. She’s hit the board in half her efforts at the 8½ furlongs and hard to see her not being a central player. It’s been almost a year since WALKINTHEWALK took on the mile-and-sixteenth distance, but she was third behind Hollywood Mistress and rival LIZZIES GIRL that day and has run consistently well over less real estate this season to indicate she is a major contender. Consistency also very much applies to Lizzies Girl, who has finished outside the first three just once all year.
WISE MARKET won the last time he ran over this distance, although that was over a year ago. He’s been kept to sprinting so far this season and has been a consistent performer at this level. Don’t ignore him. FAMILY BIZ takes some class relief and looks to be the main danger. A repetition of his recent third behind Broke an Broken could easily be enough to get the job done. APPELLANT had rivals SLEW’S DA BOSS and COUNTRY COWBOY behind him when winning two weeks ago and he’s another consistent sort who shouldn’t be far away. BARNEY GOOGLE rattled off three wins before a solid third over the extended 11-furlong distance last time and he has to go on the shortlist.
The trusty dart may come in handy here in what is a devilishly difficult finale. DEPUTY’S DANCER takes a short step down the class level and has to be respected in this company, especially if he can repeat last month’s win over Better Tone and Dynamiter. He has seen plenty of action this year, however, and this will be his fourth start since the beginning of July. BILLS SMOKN BULLET would make short work of most of these rivals but, first, he will need to go in the gate and that has been an issue of late. If he gets away, this will also be his first run of the season and he’s entitled to need the outing. RING OF KERRY did all that was asked of him except hold Calamazeus’s late lunging nose last time when he had YOU DON’T OWN ME and ANOTHER GUINNESS behind. He’s hit the board in his three previous starts and wouldn’t be winning out of turn.
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