Ballarat Racing Tips for October 23 – Godolphin galloper set for improvement in Race 8

Here are our best bets from the meeting, which comes on the eve of a massive day of action from Flemington on Saturday for the running of the Cox Plate.

Vulcana should be hard to beat in Race 2. The daughter of Alabama Express has had just the one career start, finishing runner-up over 1200m at Warrnambool on October 1 on a Heavy track. She settled midfield on that occasion before doing her best work late, producing the fastest final 400m and 200m sectionals of the race. She will strip fitter for that experience and gives every indication that the step up to 1400m will suit. The filly comes into this with the best last-start benchmark figures of any runner, while John Allen takes the ride. Expect her to settle worse than midfield, with stablemate Naya potentially leading them up and ensuring a suitable tempo. The Ballarat circuit should suit, and she will be hard to hold out at the business end.

Nishioka looks a strong chance in Race 5. The Robbie Griffiths-trained filly has finished runner-up in both career starts, settling handy in a sprint race at Bairnsdale on debut before another narrow defeat at Kilmore. She produced the fastest final 400m and 200m sectionals on that occasion, missing out by just half a length behind Soundbite, with the pair putting four lengths on the remainder of the field. She draws the outside barrier here, but there looks to be sufficient early speed from the likes of Cirque De Coeur and Ocean's Blue to string the field out and give her an opportunity to slot in. She should be nearing her peak at her third career start and looks capable of finishing strongly once again. Expect her to go very close.

Cushioned is worth thought in Race 8. The Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained mare has had two runs this preparation, finishing fourth when resuming over 1325m at Geelong before appreciating the step up to 1600m at Cranbourne last time. She was slowly away on that occasion and found herself back in a slowly run race before encountering traffic approaching the 500m. Despite those difficulties, she produced the fastest split from the 400m to the 200m before the lack of early tempo counted against her, eventually finishing fourth behind Savannah Chill. She showed significant improvement on benchmark figures when sixth in a strong form race at Sandown at the same stage of her previous preparation before breaking through at Pakenham later in the campaign. She may ultimately be looking for further, but this is not an overly strong race, and she has shown enough promise to suggest she can be competitive third-up.