Punters will be looking to capitalise early in the day at the Doomben meet as the unbeaten Pleasantries ($17.00) and Eskdale Girl ($8.00) step out in races 2 and 3 on the program. Formerly with Brad Widdop, Derby Racing’s Pleasantries will have to overcome a wide barrier while Eskdale Girl drops back in distance after a very convincing win over 1100m at Ipswich.
Stuart Kendrick-trained Pleasantries has won both career starts at Kembla Grange and Hawkesbury to date, the Foxwedge mare looking to carry her NSW form up to the Sunshine State, with runners from down south typically performing on Queensland tracks.
Reading very smart on paper, Pleasantries was dominant when taking care of the small field at Kembla back in October last year, in fact running the 1200m journey in 1:11.05 with a very prompt 32.87 for the trip home, breaking the 11-second split barrier between the 600 and 200m mark.
The drop back in distance looks to have no negative bearing on the performance on the mare, in fact last start hitting a top speed of almost 70 kp/h around the 400m mark, her previous run pointing towards a good performance here.
Likewise to Pleasantries, $8 shot Eskdale girl will also drop back in distance after rocketing home last start. The Les Ross trained filly was a 1.25L winner on debut after drawing barrier 8 of 9, showing a searing turn of foot to put it over Mishani Ruler, clocking a 10.94 between the 400 and 200m mark in the process.
Both runners will step out in very winnable races, particularly with strong winning from. For those looking to have a bet, the tactical approach of an all up just to fill the minors pays a very tempting $14.00.
