Warrnambool Racing Tips for August 20 – Empress Rossa to break through at the ‘Bool

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

Willing to give Fiorowngood another chance in Race 3. The Symon Wilde galloper is yet to win in five starts and flopped as a well backed $2.10 favourite in a small field at the track and trip on a Heavy 10 two starts ago. But his form in his two starts either side of that has been encouraging, running on strongly over the 1443m when first up at Geelong on a Heavy before clocking the fastest last 200m at Casterton last time over the 1400m when runner-up behind The Cable Guy. The son of Fiorente gets another crack at the 1700m and gives the impression he wants the extra distance, while he just needs to settle better than what he did at his previous visit here when too keen. 

Mr Sioux should be hard to beat in Race 4 after a promising debut that saw him finish runner-up behind Angland Lass at Bendigo. That came over the 1300m on July 30 and he drew widest of the 11 runners before settling back on a slow tempo. He produced the fastest last 600m, 400m and 200m to fill the runner-up slot, while the winner had the run of the race closer to the speed. Trained by Ciaron Maher, who has Gringotts running in the Winx Stakes on Saturday, the gelding should improve off that and draws the inside barrier this time around with John Allen to ride. He is striking at 22% from his last 100 rides for the stable for a 14% profit on turnover. 

Empress Rossa is set to break through in Race 5. The four-year-old has finished runner-up in her two starts to date with those coming on Heavy 10 tracks at Warrnambool on debut over the 1100m and Hamilton over the 1200m at her most recent start. She went forward last time and set a solid tempo before going down late behind Cinnamon Kiss and went 1.7 lengths slower than standard benchmark, which is nearly seven lengths better than what any horse in this race has produced in their careers to date. The daughter of Magnus draws wide in barrier 11 but has the early gate speed to punch up and if she can cross over without burning too much fuel early on with Linda Meech on board, it should be game over. 

Cinnamon Kiss has returned in good order and has been relishing wet tracks in her two starts this time in. The locally trained galloper out of the Tom Dabernig stables is a great chance of making it back to back wins after a dominant last start effort that saw her sail past Empress Rosa over the 1200m in Maiden grade. This is a bit of a step up but she will get conditions to suit again and will land in a perfect stalking position from barrier 6, while she will be getting towards her peak at her third run back from a spell. Linda Meech rides and strikes at 25% for the stable, providing a 20% profit on investment.