Moruya Racing Tips for October 2 – Manwari to improve sharply in last of the day

Here are our best bets from the meeting, which comes on the even of a huge day of racing from Royal Randwick on Saturday for the Epsom Handicap meeting. 

This might be the race for 13-start maiden Hellfighter to finally break through. The four-year-old has placed five times, including in four of his past five starts, and was denied his maiden victory two starts ago when first past the post at Wagga over 1400m before losing the race on protest. The Matthew Kelley-trained gelding led that day and put a big gap on the third placegetter, while he didn't enjoy much luck as a $1.95 favourite last time when crowded early before again finishing in the minor placings. The son of Hellbent draws ideally in barrier three, looks suited stepping up to 1650m after closing his races off strongly and has shown he can handle wet ground should the forecast rain arrive.

There are a few unknowns with some first starters involved, but Czech Me should be hard to beat at his third career start. The three-year-old debuted at Hawkesbury over 1000m and finished runner-up behind Flight Of Power in a race that has already produced three subsequent winners. He then stepped up to a $100,000 maiden at Canterbury and finished eighth of nine but was severely hampered on multiple occasions in the straight, eventually finishing around five lengths from the winner. Despite the interference, he went only two lengths slower than standard benchmark, which is comfortably superior to the exposed figures of his raced opposition here. From barrier one in the small field, the son of Prague can lead or box-seat and should get every opportunity.

Let’s Go Again comes into one of the better races of the day with strong recent form. The mare won earlier in her preparation at Kembla Grange and has remained competitive in Sydney since, finishing inside the top five in each of her past four starts. She was fifth in Benchmark 72 company at Rosehill before heading to Warwick Farm last time and finishing runner-up over 1200m behind Malachi. After drawing wide she pushed forward to sit outside the leader, which eventually weakened, but she stuck on strongly before being caught late. That performance rated 1.5 lengths faster than standard benchmark, the best last-start figure in this field. Barrier six should allow her to find the front or settle very close to the speed in a race without a huge amount of pressure, while the rise to 1300m should pose no issue.

Manwari can be a sharp improver in the final race at Moruya. The five-year-old resumed at Randwick and effectively lost his chance at the start when beginning awkwardly and settling towards the rear in a race where they crawled through the early stages. He made some ground approaching the straight but was simply too far back given the way the race developed. He now drops back to country grade and has an excellent previous result at Moruya, having produced a dominant 1000m victory here last year that began a three-race winning streak. He will strip fitter second-up and, provided he begins cleanly, barrier three should give him every chance in a race that appears to contain plenty of early speed.