Australia Spot Plays for Rosehill Mar. 27

Tips for tonight’s meeting at Rosehill for it’s a big race day. There are two Grade 1 events, the Vinery Stud for 3-year-old fillies, which is the main lead up race to the Australian Oaks (G1), plus the Tancred, which is the main weight-for-age race for the stayers during the Sydney carnival and run over a mile and a half.

Expert Picks: Read Vance Hanson's Australia Spot Plays for Rosehill Gardens on March 27 here!

ROSEHILL RACE 1

#10 ROYAL CELEBRATION (SAM CLIPPERTON)
Current Odds: 5/2
Lightly raced entire who looks to be building to a win this prep and I think he’s struck the right race to do so. He’s drawn an outside gate and, with no other apparent early speed engaged here, I expect Sam Clipperton to be aggressive out of the gates and look to get across, lead, and dictate proceedings from the front. He races well at Rosehill, the 7 furlongs is his pet trip, and he’s got no issues with a soft track There’s plenty of ticks in the boxes and, if he doesn’t get any pressure up front, they’ll be doing very well to run him down late.

TULLOCH STAKES, ROSEHILL RACE 3

#5 ZEBROWSKI (HUGH BOWMAN)
Current Odds: 4/1
Zebrowski is bred to get over a trip and he looks to be a young stayer going places. He can put himself right into contention for the Australia Derby (G1) by winning the Tulloch, and the manner in which he’s won both his starts this prep suggests he is ready for the step up in grade now, especially against a field lacking a bit of depth. Loved what he did late when winning at the Kensington circuit 10 days ago – he traveled beautifully throughout the run, was asked to extend once they turned for home, and then, when some challengers arrived on the scene with a furlong to go, he found another gear and was really quite soft on the line. Very keen that he wins this and runs well in the Derby against the top 3-year-olds.

TANCRED STAKES, ROSEHILL RACE 6

#2 MUSTAJEER (NASH RAWILLER)
Current Odds: 9/1
The favorite here, Verry Elleegant, is a high class mare with a quality turn of foot, but she does seem very short here, especially if they turn this mile and a half event into a real staying contest. That being the case, I do think imported gelding Mustajeer is dying to get out to this distance. He was brilliant winning first up when he had a bit of freshness in his legs, before he was left flat-footed second up behind the very promising Master of Wine, but stuck to his task very gamely. He’s a proven commodity at this trip, including a win in Britain’s best staying handicap race, the Ebor, as well as a fantastic run in last year’s Caulfield Cup (G1). That price discrepancy between him and the fav is too much for me.

VINERY STUD STAKES, ROSEHILL RACE 7

#9 SUBPOENAED (TOMMY BERRY)
Current Odds: 10/1
It’s a new test for a lot of these fillies getting out to the mile and a quarter of this and there’s a big field engaged, so you’d like to think, especially with that rise in distance, that there’ll be a bit of speed on early and it will be a truly run race. No doubt the two premier fillies in the land are Funstar and Probabeel, and they thoroughly deserve the top two spots in the market. But, there is a filly that I think is going to excel with the rise in distance, and it might be enough to bring her close to the level of that aforementioned pair, and that’s Funstar’s stablemate, Subpoenaed. She has put in three amazing runs this prep after showing promise last year, and that last-start fifth behind Asiago in the Kembla Grange Classic (G3), was an enormous run when she dropped back to last, had to make a very long run around the entire field, and just kept coming the last furlong to only be beaten less than a length. With a better gate, and most likely the chance to position closer in the running here, I think we are going to see the best of her now and at the odds, she’s the way I want to lean.