Gai Waterhouse | Gai Waterhouse News 55452 Playing By The Rules

Our Racing Manager, Emma Reeves, aids us with programming and identifies who she thinks is the best placed horse each weekend.

Sicilian, Thursday 22nd June, Gosford, 2YO Maiden Plate, 1100m:

I really think Zoumon will be hard to beat but when Dessert Icon accepted and subsequently scratched, it compressed the weights which disadvantages him based on handicap rating alone, i.e. ‘on paper’. Due to the fact that he’s young, unexposed and has an awful lot of upside, I think he’ll overcome it, but that’s not the purpose of this segment. One horse that is following the rule book closely is Sicilian. I know people will say that the form out of the Lonhro Plate is yet to be franked but two year old Stakes races over the autumn are not comparable to a winter Gosford weekday meeting and I love horses dropping back in grade. She has had a short trial followed by a 1050 metre trial two weeks ago to prime her for an 1100 metre set weights maiden, all of which is ideal. She races the boys and Gosford is a tricky track, but I think her natural speed should overcome the latter.