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Canberra Horses to go the Extra Mile

The second running of the Affinity Electrical Technologies Canberra Mile has attracted a class field of talented local gallopers and strong City raiders. Leading the local brigade in the headline race of the day is Matthew Dale’s vastly talented Sausedge who will be looking to break through after what has been an up and down preparation.

“She has been up for a while and I think most would agree she raced without luck early in her preparation” Matthew Dale said. “But the way she races, she does need luck”.

“She’s ticking along very nicely, seems to race quite well on her home track and I think there’s going to a hot tempo which is going to suit.”

In a race featuring Group 3 winner Entente from the Waterhouse Bott yard, the locals including Matthew Dale’s Sausedge, Nick Olive’s Maid of Ore and Joe Ible’s Champagne Vega will have to be at the peak of their powers in the $150,000 contest.

The Freedman’s will look to go back-to-back in the Canberra Mile with Outback Diva while Bjorn Baker’s duo of Solider of Love and Canasta bring with them strong city form. First and second placings in the Affinity Electrical Technologies Canberra Mile will be exempt from the ballot for the TAB Canberra Cup. Race 8 on the program, the Affinity Electrical Technologies Canberra Mile is scheduled for a 5:24pm start.

A race prior, in the ETS Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Black Opal Preview, a talented group of 2-year-olds will battle it out for two guaranteed spots in the Group 3 John McGrath Auto Group Black Opal Stakes a fortnight later. The Black Opal ballot exemption has attracted a number of the big City stables with Maher & Eustace entering Snitzel colt Bruckner, a $750,000 purchase as a yearling. In what is a big advantage, Bruckner will have champion jockey Nash Rawiller aboard when he tackles race day conditions for the first time.

While the City-stables will no doubt bring quality, it is the Canberra-based babies that will perhaps capture the market’s attention with Matthew Dale’s Pretty Woman and Keith Dryden’s Varroom providing a glimpse of their potential talent in their debuts two weeks ago. Pretty Woman, a daughter of Written Tycoon, is Black Opal-bound if all things go to plan according to Trainer Matthew Dale.

“We haven’t done much with her since her wonderful debut” Dale said. “She’s going very nicely but the calibre of City-horses paints a picture of a quality race so this will give us a great gauge of where she is it.”

The ETS Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Black Opal Preview is Race 7 on the card and is due at 4:44pm.

The quadrella kicks off at 4:04pm with the TAB Federal National Sprint Preview, another race which holds ballot exemption for a Canberra Carnival feature race. Norm Gardner’s Delacour will be looking to bounce back to the form that saw her put together a nice picket fence of four wins while the Jospeh Jones team’s Mookareena has finished worse than 4th just once in her past seven starts. First and second placings here will be exempt from the ballot for the $150,000 Listed Seears Workwear National Sprint.

The final feature of the day, the Casino Canberra Canberra Guineas Preview will see the 3-year-olds vie for a place in the Iron Jack Canberra Guineas. Like the other features, the first two placings will have a guaranteed spot in their corresponding. Canberra Carnival feature. Matthew Dale again has a strong hand with the promising Molly Nails, who broke it’s maiden a month ago in Wagga by a lazy 7 and a half lengths. The race features runners from Waterhouse & Bott, Bjorn Baker and the Freedman’s amongst others. The Casino Canberra Canberra Guineas is Race 4 on the program and is due to jump at 2:49pm.