3 minute read
Boss Lane's career peak performance came over the Randwick 1000m course and he returns there with a terrific winning hope for today's Summer Sprint.
Randwick plays host to the inaugural Chinese Festival Of Racing today in what should be a great day off the track but on the track is where we are focussed and on race seven in particular.
Unfortunately it appears that the Summer Sprint will be run on anything but summer ground, the track listed as a Heavy 8 after rain in the lead up to the day, and subsequent scratchings have thinned the race out a good deal.
Despite that there's not a lot to separate four key chances in the betting but Boss Lane makes the most appeal.
He would have perhaps preferred firmer going but he is twice a winner on heavy tracks and his defeats have come with excuses.
He has been good in both runs this time in, returning Timeform ratings just a few pounds short of his peak in a pair of listed contests, and that form points to him being right around his peak level today.
He was able to peak over the Randwick 1000m last preparation when he won a Benchmark 85 in a blistering 56.01 seconds. They won't be getting around here that fast today but he has shown that he is well suited at the course, winning at Randwick on four occasions.
With the claim for Andrew Adkins he is very well placed and there is no better trainer for young apprentices to ride for than Ron Quinton, a master mentor of jockeys in Australia.
The danger, and early market favourite, is Diamond Oasis. He's a heavy track winner over the Randwick 1000m course and is racing as well as ever this preparation, arriving here off a win at the Gold Coast in the Bat Out Of Hell Quality.
He's reasonably consistent at that level and his rating there is good enough to ensure that Boss Lane has to be on his game to knock him off.
The wet track might bring Big Money into the game. He's a 5-time winner on soft ground and would be a terrific chance here on his best form.
He's first up from a spell today in a much softer race than what he contested last preparation. His last three runs were in Group 1 company up in Brisbane. He wasn't a long way away in all three of the big sprint series up north and that form has to be respected.
