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We're set for an exciting Saturday at Eagle Farm with four quality runners flying the Waterhouse & Bott flag.

Emma Reeves aids us with programming and identifies who she thinks is the best placed horse each weekend. Alalcance, Saturday 13th June, Eagle Farm, Race 3:  While I think Bella Montagna will be extremely hard to beat with the weight pull, I told her story very recently so I thought I’d tell Alalcance’s.This mare burst onto the scene in the autumn of 2025, winning a hattrick of Sydney Cup lead ups before capitulating off a very hot tempo in the Group 1. Since then, she hasn’t quite reached the same lofty heights, until two weeks ago. Going back to the beginning of this campaign, she raced twice over the autumn and first up was probably her best performance since she was in that rich vein of form the previous year. She was still a few lengths off where we needed her to be to be winning during the height of the carnival though, so Gai and Adrian decided to freshen her and focus on the Queensland Winter Carnival.She returned with a promising effort over a distance short of her best and the stars aligned second up in the Premier’s Cup, where she ran her best rating since her last win 15 months ago, a significant improvement on recent performances. We’ve removed the blinkers to help her settle over the marathon trip and any rain won’t be a hindrance because although she’s only met a heavy track twice on raceday, her data suggests she stretches out even better in those conditions and recovers just as well. It also indicates that she will stay all day, which is likely to be the key on a heavy track over 3200 metres.

SATURDAY 13th JUNE - EAGLE FARMRail Position: +4M Entire PALMANOVA, Race 2, 1200m, 12.18pm, T Clark, 55kg Palmanova has thrived since her run at Doomben a fortnight ago. We don’t think she was seen in the best light on that rain affected track, but she’s taken further improvement from it so whilst this is a big step up in grade, we’re hopeful she can rise to the challenge. There’s rain forecast ahead of this meeting but we’re hopeful it won’t be too testing, and we’ve put blinkers on for the first time in an attempt to sharpen her up further and bring about further improvement. She’s drawn an outside gate in 12 but she maps to settle off the speed, so Tim should be able to track across and get some cover in the run. This is a competitive race and she needs to improve to win, but if she can sneak some Black Type we’d be absolutely thrilled.ALALCANCE, Race 3, 3200m, 12.53pm, T Clark, 59kg Alalcance gave us such a thrill when finding her way back into the Winner’s Circle at this track last time. She has come through the run in tremendous order and she looks an absolute picture, so she couldn’t be in better shape ahead of her Grand Final. She’s stepping up in trip here so we’ve elected to take the blinkers off, as we don’t want to risk her over racing like she did in her only previous attempt at the distance. Tim knows her inside out and gets on fantastically with her, so he’ll roll forward from barrier 3 and let her land where she’s comfortable. She maps to lead but last time she took a sit just in behind the speed and seemed to enjoy it, so we’ll leave it in Tim’s capable hands as to what he does. She’s conceding weight to all her rivals which is her biggest challenge, and it’s not going to be easy for her to give Bella Montagna an extra 3kg here for beating her by only a neck last time. However, she’s the top rated horse in the field for a reason and the best ones can often defy large weights, so we’re confident she’ll give it her best shot and take plenty of running down.BELLA MONTAGNA, Race 3, 3200m, 12.53pm, R King, 53kg Bella Montagna gave us such a thrill when finishing second in the Group 3 Premier’s Cup last time. It was a big rise in grade but she confirmed herself to be a very talented and progressive stayer by running her highly rated stablemate to a neck at the line. The two of them pulled a huge 5.63 lengths clear of the rest of the field, so she had them well and truly covered and she confirmed in no uncertain terms that she belong in a race of this stature. She’s continued to thrive since that run a fortnight ago, and as you’ll see in the photo below her coat is like glass at present so she couldn’t be in better condition ahead of her Grand Final. She maps to settle in behind the leaders and Rachel should be able to switch her off nicely and enjoy an economical run in transit. She’s untested beyond 2400 metres but we have no concerns about her seeing out the trip, and if anything it will bring about further improvement. She is 3kg better off with Alalcance for a narrow beating last time, so she’s entitled to reverse the form and we know she’s effective on a wet track so any further rain won’t hurt her chance. This is a valuable and competitive race so it won’t be easy, but she’s peaking at the right time and ticks a lot of boxes so we do think she will be very hard to beat.SATURDAY 13th JUNE - NEWCASTLERail Position: +8M Entire BEYOND PERFECTION, Race 3, 1300m, 1.05pm, D Dillon, 59kg Beyond Perfection is pleasing us ahead of his first start. He showed promise in his first trial and wasn’t disgraced in his most recent one on the polytrack, which is rarely our preferred surface, and these two hit outs have given him a solid fitness base. 1300 metres is a lovely starting point as he’d be vulnerable to speedier types over anything shorter, and Donovan will endeavour to roll forward from barrier 6 to try and put him in the race and make his own luck accordingly. The soft track is an unknown, but Newcastle is renowned for being a course that drains very well so unless there’s extreme rainfall we don’t think it’ll be too testing. He’s starting off at a realistic level and horses can improve a lot under race day conditions, so we will have a much clearer line on him after this outing and we hope to see him run a competitive race to get his career off to an encouraging start.