Cranbourne Racing Tips for October 2 – Two Wolves to hunt victory in Race 3

Here are our best bets from the meeting, which comes on the eve of a huge meeting at Flemington on Saturday for the Turnbull Stakes.

Civic Square can make a winning return in the opener. The Greg Eurell-trained gelding has had just the one career start, finishing fifth at Sandown over 1200m on a Heavy track back in July. He pushed forward to settle handy to a hot tempo and stuck on well to finish less than three lengths from the winner, going more than 10 lengths faster than standard benchmark. The form has proven red-hot, with winner American Wolf going on to win the Group 3 McNeil Stakes at his next start before placing in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude, while runner-up Judas Tree subsequently won at Sandown and fourth-placed Crown Of Fire won a $100,000 maiden in New South Wales. Civic Square has since had two promising trials at Cranbourne and, although barrier 12 is the obvious query, he ticks plenty of boxes and should be hard to beat.

Two Wolves looks suited getting to 1600m third-up. The Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained gelding showed promise last preparation, winning twice including a Benchmark 70 at Caulfield in January, and has finished seventh in both runs this campaign. He needed the run first-up and was luckless before again finishing around four lengths from the winner last time. He should now be approaching peak fitness and at the corresponding stage of his previous campaign improved almost seven lengths on benchmark figures to win at Caulfield. The son of Castelvecchio has already performed on rain-affected ground and draws to settle within striking distance.

We are hoping second emergency Nothingelsematters can gain a start in Race 6 over 2025m. The six-year-old has been up for a long time and will have plenty of fitness on his side, having most recently finished fifth at Mornington on Grand Final Day in Benchmark 84 company despite starting at $61. The Cranbourne-trained gelding relishes some give in the ground, with all three of his wins coming on Soft or Heavy tracks, and the inside draw should allow him to potentially box-seat behind the leader and save plenty of ground before being produced for one final crack at them.