Gai Waterhouse | Gai Waterhouse News 58523 Playing By The Rules

Emma Reeves aids us with programming and identifies who he thinks is the best placed horse each weekend.

Frankly Elegant, Friday 31st January, Canterbury, Race 5:
I’ll rarely identify a filly or mare racing the boys as ‘well placed’ but in this case, I think she is. A fillies and mares staying race would have been the icing on the cake but they’re an extremely rare commodity. Interestingly there’s only five Stakes races for the mares over 1900 metres and beyond throughout the entire year, across the whole of Australia. There’s none over further than 2100 metres. While we’re not talking about a Stakes race here, it shows how difficult these horses can be to place. What we have found is a race for horses aged five and above, over a course and distance where she was most recently successful. She has been racing consistently well, she has an inform jockey on her back and she’s a natural leader which tends to suit this tight turning track. I expect to see her winning tonight.