2016 Expressway Stakes Betting Tips

This weekend the lead-up to the Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival majors steps up a notch with three Group races at Rosehill Gardens including the Expressway Stakes 2016, betting tips for the sprint clash detailed below.

Our Boy Malachi is the race favourite and Races.com.au tip to win Saturday’s 2016 Expressway Stakes at Rosehill Racecourse. Photo: Steve Hart.

Due to jump as Rosehill Race 7 at 4:25pm (AEDT), this year’s $200,000 Group 2 Expressway Stakes (1200m) only attracted eight final acceptors.

There is plenty of class among the Expressway Stakes field however including in the firming favourite Our Boy Malachi.

The Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes-trained Top Echelon gelding is a rising eight-year-old and sits top of the Expressway Stakes odds through Ladbrokes.com.au paying $2.30 for the win.

He enjoyed a strong campaign in Sydney and Brisbane last year including his third in the Group 1 BTC Cup (1200m) in May before things went amiss with his last (16^th) in the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 (1350m) last time out.

The veteran has trialled well since however and looks set for a big return at a track he’s undefeated over ready to add to his stellar first-up record.

The other two single figure hopes in Expressway Stakes betting this season are the John O’Shea-trained Lonhro six-year-old Generalife ($3.50) who is four-from-seven at Rosehill and Gerald Ryan’s returning mare Solicit ($6) racing for the first time since her Group 3 Summoned Stakes (1500m) win at Sandown back in mid-November.

So will the favourite salute for punters or is there an upset Expressway Stakes result on the cards from the likes of the rails-drawn Group 1 winner Tiger Tees ($13) or the early market mover River Lad ($19 into $17) for Newcastle’s Kris Lees?

1^st

#4 Our Boy Malachi ($2.30)

Hard to go past the imposing statistics and track / distance / first-up records of the returning favourite who is still at a backable price. It’s a small field and he’s the one to beat despite it being so long between runs. He looks like he’s fully recovered from his 2015-winter setback and has won both of his previous Rosehill starts. He has four wins and a third from five starts at Saturday’s distance and from his seven first-up assignments to date he boasts six wins and a second so he flies fresh and will be hard to run down.

2^nd

#7 Solicit ($6)

Lots of boxes ticked by Ryan’s classy Street Cry mare, the five-year-old having her third run at the Rosehill track where she has one win and a second to date. She was last seen winning a Group 3 at Sandown in November and trialled very nicely at Rosehill on January 19 when runner-up to Saturday’s favourite Our Boy Malachi over 900m. She beat home Cox Plate winning mare Winx (3^rd) in that hit-out, has a solid first-up record (7-3-1-0) and at weight-for-age from gate five in a small field should be right in the mix.

3^rd

#5 Big Money ($12)

The value punt in the field looks to lie in Big Money, Rodney Northam’s country galloper drawn in gate two. The six-year-old son of Choisir did plenty to run third to Boss Lane first-up in the Summer Sprint (1000m) at Randwick earlier in the month and will appreciate stepping up to 1200m (7-3-1-0), which will suit better. He’s yet to race at Rosehill but the Sydney form is strong, he’s Group 1 performed and looks a strong Each Way chance.

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