Gai Waterhouse | Gai Waterhouse News 58272 Playing By The Rules

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

Pulchritudinous, Saturday 27th April, Race 7 Morphettville, Group 1 Australasian Oaks:

First things first, it’s pronounced puhl·kruh·choo·duh·nuhs and it means “beautiful”, despite not necessarily being the prettiest word. This New Zealand bred filly was last seen winning the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks over 2400 metres at Trentham in mid-March. Prior to that she had won a Group 2 over 2000 metres, and simply put this filly has thrived since getting out to 2000 metres and beyond. She was purchased by Yulong Stud after her Oaks win, and we are the lucky beneficiaries as she is shaping up to be an extremely exciting filly. She’s taken everything in her stride since crossing the Tasman, and she hit the line strongly in a recent 1200-metre trial at Randwick which should fine tune her for this outing. She’s settled in well since travelling south to Morphettville, and her even temperament is another big plus that is going to stand her in good stead. She’s rated 98 and the next best on ratings is twelve points inferior to her on 86, which highlights how much better the handicapper believes she is to her rivals. They’re all carrying 56kg so on her rating she’s very well in at the weights, and for this reason she is well placed. Yes, she’s dropping back from 2400 metres which isn’t always ideal, but the six-week freshen up between runs should ensure there’s enough speed in her legs to cope with this. Tim Clark is travelling down to ride her which is another big sign in and of itself, and with even luck in running she should be extremely hard to beat.