Kyneton Racing Tips for October 20 – Promising Waterhouse & Bott galloper to be Better By Far

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

Tuzemak should be hard to beat in the opener at Kyneton. The Reece Goodwin-trained filly has had five career starts and placed in four of those, most recently finishing a narrow runner-up behind Autumn Rainbow on the Pakenham synthetic track after settling handy and being edged out on the line. She was unlucky when resuming at Sandown, having been posted wide without cover throughout, before another respectable performance in between those outings. The filly has produced figures within 2.5 lengths of the standard benchmark at her past two starts, better than anything her rivals in this race have managed recently. She should be ready to peak after three runs this preparation and ticks plenty of boxes after drawing ideally in barrier four. With race fitness, consistent form and a favourable draw on her side, this looks her race.

Better By Far should live up to her name when she takes on her rivals in Race 2 at Kyneton. The Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained filly has finished runner-up in all three career starts, having stepped out in some strong early-season two-year-old races. She narrowly missed out at Scone before taking on some quality opposition in the Pierro Plate, where she finished runner-up behind a promising youngster. She was then given a lengthy break ahead of her three-year-old campaign and resumed at Canterbury over 1100m last month in a $100,000 race, leading before being nailed late by Crescent King. She has since won a trial at Flemington ahead of Oak Hill and should strip fitter for that first-up performance. The wide barrier is a slight concern, but she has the early speed to cross and dictate terms. This looks a suitable assignment, and she should not remain in maiden grade for much longer.

Hoping Corona Lad can sneak into the field for the final race of the day at Kyneton. The eight-year-old has had three runs this preparation and narrowly missed out at Sale two starts ago over 1732m, finishing runner-up behind Kobe And Niki before stepping out at Bendigo in Benchmark 66 company at his most recent outing. He finished fifth behind Our Justify on that occasion and now comes into this fourth-up, which looks a suitable stage of his preparation given his previous campaigns. He has generally needed a few runs to reach peak fitness, having won fourth-up two preparations ago and third-up last campaign. His recent benchmark figures have been around or faster than standard, suggesting he is building towards another competitive performance. He draws barrier six, with Neil Farley booked to ride, and the jockey has won one of his two rides for the Nathan Dunn stable. Corona Lad should be ready to produce his best and can give this a shake if he gains a start.