Ballarat Racing Tips for August 31 – Flowers to bloom in Race 5 at Ballarat

Here are our best bets from the meeting, which also feature in our daily selections.

Aubane looks set to break through in Race 3. The four-year-old has had two runs this time in and finished runner-up in both, with those coming on the Pakenham Synthetic. He ran home well behind Earthing when resuming before leading at his next start and going along at a solid clip, only to become a sitting duck in the straight when going down by half a length behind Just Desserts. The Price/Kent Jnr-trained galloper went 1.6 lengths slower than standard benchmark, which is four lengths better than the next-best last-start figure of any runner in this race. He should be close to peak fitness now and will be handy in a race that lacks pressure up front. Expect him to get the job done.

Willing to have something each-way on Cowboykickedfive in Race 4. The six-year-old didn't do much at all in his first nine career starts but didn't look out of place at his first go on a Synthetic track when resuming over the 1200m at Pakenham last week, running on well for third behind Tag The Bride. He should strip fitter for that and draws much more favourably in barrier 1, which should allow him to settle closer, possibly behind the leader on the fence. The Reece Goodwin-trained galloper sticks to the 1200m after being tried over longer trips last preparation, and this does look to be a weak Maiden.

This looks to be a suitable assignment for Endless Flowers. The five-year-old won two of her first three starts but didn't quite measure up in subsequent runs that came in harder company than this. She dropped to Benchmark 62 level at her most recent start and produced a bit of an eye-catcher at her first run on the Synthetic, coming home with the fastest late splits before narrowly going down to Speedtail as the runner-up. The daughter of Shamus Award went 0.2 lengths slower than standard benchmark, which is nine lengths better than the next-best last-start figure of any runner in this race, and she drops further in grade here. Olivia East takes the ride and her 2kg claim gets Endless Flowers in nicely at the weights.