Sport is made for betting

Love this race, it looks like one of the stronger editions we have seen in recent years. You can have all the WFA races you like, but proper high quality handicaps where the champs carry the weight taking on the up and comers get my blood racing. Often these races have a few deadweights long out of form or turn up as frequently as Halley's Comet - of the 16 runners before emergencies, they all have winning strike rates of 24% or better. Magnificent. Note this race over 1100m is from the Hillside chute so it's a bend rather than a full turn - not as damaging if caught wide, but note it is run to the second finishing post, a temporary measure to accommodate additional race distances at Sandown during the Caulfield renovations. OAKLEIGH PLATE Group 1, 1100m, Handicap of AU$750,000 Sandown (Lakeside) Saturday, Feb 25, 1740 local, 0640 GMT 1. Roch 'N' Horse Kiwi mare who has won the two biggest 1200m races at Flemington, the G1 Newmarket Hcp (SP 101) and the G1 Champions Spr...

A sensational day of racing on Saturday in Melbourne, but this year it'll be run in the wide open spaces of Sandown rather than the MRC's other track, Caulfield, which is undergoing major works. Sandown is a great track (technically two courses, Hillside and Lakeside, and this programme will mix across the two) but it's a long way out in the suburbs, making it less popular with the powers that be in Victorian racing.  There's been debate for many years about the value of the land and whether it'd be better to sell it off to developers, creating a huge funds to spend on other venues, namely Caulfield. But Melbourne is a huge sprawling city these days, having all the race meetings in inner suburbs doesn't work for everyone, plus Sandown is the winter workhorse, staging midweek meetings just about every week in a regular season and still races fairly. Since it was opened in 1965, it has barely had any investment in facilities (apart from a recent splash of the cash...