Sale Racing Tips for October 25 – Ten Commandments hard to beat in the Sale Cup

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

Loaded comes up at a short price in the opener but looks a clear top pick. The Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr-trained galloper has had just one career start, producing a fast-finishing runner-up performance behind Be Admired at Pakenham on the synthetic earlier this month. He settled back after drawing the widest barrier in the field of 10 and closed with the fastest final 400m and 200m to narrowly miss out. The son of I Am Invincible went just 0.7 lengths slower than standard benchmark, more than three lengths better than the next-best last-start figure of any runner in this field. He draws wide again, but the spacious Sale track should give him every opportunity to wind up in the straight and reel them in.

Castelli In Aria can go close in Race 2. The five-year-old is yet to win in five starts but has placed in four of those and should be able to work across from the wide barrier to settle handy on a solid tempo. The daughter of Euphoric resumed with a runner-up performance behind Japanese Marker, doing an excellent job to stick on after being posted three wide without cover throughout. That was her first run since March, and she went three lengths slower than standard benchmark, nearly three lengths better than the next-best last-start figure of any runner in this field. She draws wide again but has shown good early speed throughout her career. If she can work forward without burning too much fuel in the early stages, she should be hard to beat at the business end.

Ten Commandments looks the horse to beat in the Sale Cup (1600m), particularly if the forecast rain arrives. The Ciaron Maher-trained galloper has been in career-best form this preparation, recording four wins, including three on Soft ground. His most recent outing came over 1400m on a Heavy track at Flemington, where he raced on a hot tempo, was pushed wide in the straight and still produced the fastest final 200m. That performance should tune him up nicely for another crack at the mile. He has won once from two attempts at 1600m, with that victory coming two starts ago at Ballarat after overcoming a wide barrier. He draws much better in barrier six this time and will be ridden by Thomas Stockdale, who has returned a 27% profit on turnover when combining with the Maher stable.