Punters have looked outside the favoured runners in Saturday’s Light Fingers Stakes at Rosehill with the David Payne-trained Secret Delight the big firmer.
The filly opened at $21 with TAB fixed odds but was crunched into $8.50 following a series of wagers.
The John Thompson-trained Roll The Bones has also had specking and is at $16 after opening at $35.
Trainer Gerald Ryan will saddle up another outsider, $21 chance Flying Snitzel in the Group Two Light Fingers Stakes (1200m), hopeful she can recapture her two-year-old form.
A Group winner as a juvenile, Flying Snitzel mixed her efforts and distances in the spring, prompting Ryan to make some changes.
“We’ve decided this time in we will keep her back to sprints,” Ryan said.
“I always thought she would run a journey, maybe because she is out of a Metropolitan winner, but I just don’t think she copes with it.”
Flying Snitzel’s best run last campaign was her first-up sixth to subsequent Group One winner Nechita in the Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m) when she was beaten less than three lengths.
The Light Fingers has attracted a strong field headed by favourite Bennetta, an impressive winner on Magic Millions day at the Gold Coast, and Victorian Oaks heroine Dear Demi.
Ryan will start one of the more interesting runners in the Listed Canonbury Stakes (1100m) in Galeforce Ten, a brother to his dual Group One winner Melito.
While Ryan isn’t convinced he is a Golden Slipper candidate, he does believes Galeforce Ten has a bright future.
And he says the colt is built in a similar mould to his sister who made her debut with a second in the Widden Stakes on the corresponding program in 2009.
“Melito was a big, strong filly and he’s a big, strong colt. He’s probably more forward than she was,” Ryan said.
“He’s probably more a 1400 metre horse, more a Sires’ type.
“He’s got a future, it’s just a matter of whether it comes too quick for him on Saturday.”
Breeders’ Plate winner Whittington is an even money favourite for the Canonbury and Mark Newnham, representing trainer Gai Waterhouse, says the youngster has returned in great shape.
The Breeders’ Plate form received a boost last weekend when Va Pensiero, who was last in the spring contest, won impressively first-up at Warwick Farm.
“The form around him is solid,” Newnham said of Whittington.
“Both his trials have been sharp and his work has been sharp.”
