Sandown Racing Tips for July 22 – Hi Val to register first win since defeating Concord Connie

Here are our best bets from the meeting, which is one of the key midweek meetings from around Australia that we are previewing in our daily tips.

Onamori should be hard to beat in Race 3 at Sandown. The Busuttin/Young galloper has finished top four at his past four starts and is relishing the Soft and Heavy tracks of late. He has settled in the lead or on the speed at his last three in races that have provided a stack of winners. Last time, he was handy at Sandown over the 2400m and made a mid-race move before just tiring late in the piece to place 4th behind Nearco Ford in BenchMark 74 company. The winner out of that has since gone on to score again. Onamori is likely to stalk Bitcoin here and might have a bit more time before pressing the button with a number of his rivals in this race to get back. The four-year-old comes off a career peak by going 5.2 lengths faster than standard benchmark last time and is rock hard fit.

Keen on Hi Val in Race 4. The Ciaron Maher filly has won just one of nine but comes off a solid performance at Bendigo when second up on a Soft deck to finish runner-up behind Lantana. She was posted wide no cover the trip and was back on a crawling tempo before flashing home late. Her only win happened to come at her only previous third up start and she improved six lengths on benchmark figures that day to score at Ballarat ahead of Concord Connie, who looks to be a star of the future, having won by big margins in her three runs since. Hi Val gets a nice run in transit and doesnt mind a bit of cut out of the ground. Expect to see her feature at the finish. 

Going with Somewhere in Race 6. The four-year-old comes into this third up and was solid when resuming back in May with a 3rd over the 1400m behind Duchess Zou before producing a real eye-catcher at her only start since then when an unlucky and narrow runner-up behind Stop The Rock in a BenchMark 78 Saturday race at Caulfield. She was held up as they cornered before running on. The Archie Alexander-trained galloper draws wide for this and will get back but the tempo looks solid up in front of her, which should suit, while the step up to the mile looks perfect. She was an impressive Flemington winner at this stage of her last preparation, improving nearly seven lengths on figures and does look ready to deliver.