Leading form analyst Daniel O’Sullivan has Pasadena Girl on top of his 2015 Champagne Stakes tips and he believes the talented filly is the best bet at Royal Randwick this weekend.
Smartform’s Daniel O’Sullivan believes that Pasadena Girl is the horse to beat in the 2015 Champagne Stakes at Royal Randwick tomorrow. Photo by: Adrienne Bicknell
Pasadena Girl started her racing career with an upset win in the Listed Talindert Stakes (1100m) at Flemington on February 21 and she took out the Group 3 Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes (1200m) at the same venue on March 14 before she finished an unlucky fourth in the Group 1 Sires Produce Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick on April 6.
O’Sullivan told RSN that there was plenty of merit in the Champagne Stakes run of Pasadena Girl and believes that the Savabeel filly will prove very tough to beat in the Group 1 event tomorrow.
“I am super keen on Pasadena Girl,” O’Sullivan said.
“I think when you take into account winning chance and the edge on the price she is the best of the day.
“I think in the Sires she just didn’t seem to go early and that was accentuated by the fact that there was a fair bit of pressure coming from out wide and she found herself back last.
“The Jockey was at her a fair way from home and it was only really when she got in the straight and balanced up that she really started to power home nicely and she hit the line quite strongly.
“Coming into this race, she is the only two-year-old in this field that ranks in the top ten in my weight-for-age performance rankings for two-year-olds this season and that was for one of her Melbourne wins that established her potential and quality very early on.
“Definitely the potential for the quality is there and I just think in this race here that she is going to get a much kinder run, she has Hugh Bowman on board and she will have the chance to take up a position just a few lengths off the lead.
“The pace is going to be a bit more moderate, she is going to be able to conserve some energy and she is going to have the choice to either weave back to the inside if that is what he needs to do or come a few horses wide to make his run.
“When she balances up she has a very good turn-of-foot this horse, much more superior to some of the others in this race and last time in the Sires she ran the best 1000-800-600-400 and 200 home and it is quite rare to see that.
“When you are running every split home from 1000 the fastest there is a fair bit of merit in a performance like that.”
Pasadena Girl is currently available at 2015 Champagne Stakes odds of $2.80 and is a clear favourite from Odyssey Moon ($3.80), Takedown ($6), Tarquin ($6) and Street Rapper ($9.50).
