Sha Tin Racing Tips for October 11 – Purton set for Gorgeous Victory in Race 8

Here are our best bets from the meeting, which comes on a big day of racing with the Seymour Cup set to be run and won in Victoria.

Bustling City can make it a hat-trick of wins when he steps out in race four. The David Hayes-trained gelding closed off last season in style, finally breaking through after three successive placings with a win on the synthetic track. He picked up where he left off at his first run back this season, leading all the way again on the synthetic to defeat Speedy Smartie. The four-year-old went a healthy seven lengths faster than standard benchmark and looks to have returned in excellent order. He will kick up from barrier two, and unless they go hell for leather through the early and middle stages, he should have enough in the tank to hold out his rivals.

Gorgeous Victory can break through in race eight. The 10-start maiden resumes after a promising effort at Sha Tin over 1600m a month ago. He drew wide, settled back and did a few things wrong in the closing stages but still managed to record the fastest final 400m and 200m of the race in an eye-catching performance. He had been building towards a win last season with a couple of placings and just about threw away victory over 1400m at Sha Tin back in June. The stable has made a few gear changes here, and he draws much better than at his last couple of runs. Zac Purton sticks on board, and the son of Calyx draws ideally in barrier three.

Young Champion can be an improver when he steps out in the last race of the day. The seven-year-old resumed at Sha Tin on September 27 and settled back before making up a stack of ground from the 600m to the 200m, only to fade late in the piece. The John Size-trained gelding will strip fitter for that outing, and the race looks like it will set up nicely for him with plenty of speed up ahead, which should suit his sharp finishing burst. He has been a noted improver on benchmark figures at his past two second-up runs, including a six-length improvement on one occasion, and was a winner here back in March. He was luckless in a number of his late-season runs and should be closing off strongly.