Caulfield Racing Tips for July 25 – Unbeaten three-year-old to cruise to another win

Here are our best bets from the meeting, which is highlighted by the Bletchingly Stakes and is one of the major meetings from around Australia that we are previewing in our comprehensive coverage of Saturday racing.

Looking to get the day off to a flyer, and Takeko can be an improver at her second run back from a long layoff. The Grahame Begg-trained mare has won four of her 10 starts and filled the exacta in another three. She led on a Soft track at Caulfield on June 27 before just tiring over the final 200m to finish fourth behind Luna Cat. The form out of that race has been solid, with a couple of runners finishing ahead of Takeko going on to place at Flemington, while the fifth placegetter recently won at Sandown. Takeko also went a promising 6.2 lengths faster than standard benchmark. The daughter of Saxon Warrior improved nearly four lengths on benchmark figures at her last second-up run and drops in grade for this, while her best form has come over the 1200m. From barrier 4, she can lead or box-seat without too many issues, with Ryan Houston claiming 2kg. He strikes at over 20% for the stable, providing a 64% profit on investment.

Prince Tycoon produced a promising performance at Flemington last time, and I'm backing the Busuttin/Young galloper to go one better here. He tackled the 1200m straight in the Creswick Stakes, leading before going down by half a length to Wise Inlaw. After not quite producing last spring, he looks to have rediscovered his best and, at his only start at Caulfield, went a whopping 10 lengths faster than standard benchmark when taking out his debut over the 1100m last year. He is likely to roll forward and settle on the speed and is another early chance for Houston.

The feature of the day is the Bletchingly Stakes, and Winnasedge can make it a hat-trick of wins. The Nick Ryan-trained galloper took out the John Monash Stakes (1100m) here a fortnight ago, coming from midfield to arrive in time and defeat Bellatrix Star, going 10.4 lengths faster than standard benchmark, the best last-start figure of any runner in this field. The query is whether he can maintain that level after four runs this preparation, but his best figures last campaign came deep into the prep when he finished a narrow runner-up in a hot form race over this track and trip. The four-year-old can settle in a similar position from barrier 5 and should be hard to beat.

The exciting Cruiserweight is another last-start winner who can score again at Caulfield. The horse drawing comparisons to Mr Brightside joined the Hayes stable at Euroa after taking out his New Zealand debut by six lengths and has since won both starts in Victoria, claiming a Benchmark 64 during the Swan Hill Carnival before overcoming traffic to score over the 1400m at Flemington from Celtics. The three-year-old meets that horse 3kg worse at the weights but gives the impression he has plenty of improvement to come, with bigger targets than this in the pipeline for the spring.