Good Form Preview - Monday @ Yarra Valley

The Game Plan for Yarra Valley – with Jason Bonnington (@jasonbonnington)

Affectionately referred to as ‘Wine Country’ around the offices of HRV, Yarra Valley is one of, if not my absolute favourite place to watch races. Not only is it Victoria’s most picturesque course but it is a very fair playing surface which horses seem to relish racing on. That is why, for mine, the best horses win most of the time here. With all that being said I have found one pretty obvious Best Bet, three Best Value horses and one monster Roughie plus one Money Race and a wide old Quad. Good luck and good punting, the Goodform week starts here!

Best Bet ($50 Win)

Shakti Bromac (Race 3 no. 6) $1.90
A beautifully bred half-brother to Smudge Bromac and Slick Bromac among others, this bloke is a 3YO taking on older horses today but if he is even half ready to roll they will not hold him out. He is a three-time winner lining up at CO level who should really be gifted the lead but if he starts closer to $1.20 than the $1.90 marked in today’s Herald sun then you’ll probably leave him out as a straight out win proposition and back him via the Money Race outlined below.

Best Value ($25 Each Way on All)

Ok To Fly (Race 5 no. 3) $10
Peter Newton has done a terrific job since taking over training responsibilities with this sit-sprint-specialist and even though he meets some handy types here, he can certainly secure the soft run he loves from the favourable front line draw and be very dangerous with an inch of luck in the lane.

Artoc (Race 7 no. 2) $7

This guy has been struggling to break through, with silver medals behind Captain Scott, Tara Toplady and Future Operator at his past three starts but he is still racing wonderfully well and whether he bullies Dusty Smiles (1) into handing up the lead or sits handy in the run he’ll be tough to hold out in an otherwise even sort of race.

Gumdrops (Race 7 no. 6) $12

With front-of-the-field enforcers like Dusty Smiles (1), Artoc (2), Public Persuasion (5), Charlotte Two (7) & Discrimination (11) all engaged here there’s a great chance the race will be set up for an ambush artist and if it is then this little mare that dropped on her rivals for a big win at Ballarat first-up is definitely a serious winning threat today.

Best Roughie ($10 x $40)

Melton Little Max (Race 4 no. 1) $26
This bloke has been out of the winners list since October last year but most of his rivals are struggling through even longer droughts and inn a race where few if any of the runners boast a dangerous turn of foot it’s a big advantage to be somewhere near the lead in transit, which this bloke will be from the polemarking draw. He’s hardly flying but he’s not actually battling as badly as his figure formline would suggest and after four runs back from a break he may be ready to figure late at massive odds today.

The Money Race – Race 3

As previously mentioned, Shakti Bromac (6) should be winning this if he’s anything close to right and with limited place chances I’m confident we can make something out of the race with a couple of rudimentary First 4’s as outlined below.

6/ 4,5,8/ 3,4,5,8/ 3,4,5,8. $36 gets 200%

6/ 4,5,8/ 3,4,5,8/ 1,2,7. $14 gets 51.85%

Quaddie

1,3,5,8,9,11,12/ 3,5,8/ 1,2,4,6,8,9,13/ 2,5,6,7,8 $100 gets 13.61%