Taree Racing Tips for October 16 – Matthew Smith galloper to unleash Fierce finish in the Taree Cup

Here are our best bets from Taree, with the eight-race programme running alongside the Bathurst  meeting on Friday.

The feature of the day is the Taree Gold Cup, and keen on Fierceness to continue his hot streak. The four-year-old has hit his straps in recent times, winning three of his past four starts while finishing runner-up in a strong form race in the other. The Matthew Smith-trained gelding stepped out at Warwick Farm last time, drawing wide in the nine-horse field before settling back and producing a long, sustained run to overhaul Clancy, eventually drawing clear to score by more than a length. This is his toughest test yet, but the race shape looks likely to suit his sharp finishing burst. He is clearly a galloper on the rise, while the solid market support is another tick in his favour.

Explosive Tycoon can end the day on a winning note. The five-year-old has managed just one win from 23 starts but has placed in two of his past three, with both of those efforts coming at his home track of Taree. He set a solid tempo in the most recent of those before being nosed out on the line by Pearl Pendant, with the pair putting a decent gap on the 3rd placegetter, Alabama Charm, who has since gone on to win impressively at Canberra. Explosive Tycoon can slide forward from barrier 10 in a race that doesn't appear to have a great deal of early pressure drawn inside him. With 3kg claiming apprentice Paige Ferguson-Smith aboard, he looks a genuine winning chance.