Australian racing picks for Canberra and Ballarat

The action starts early from Down Under tonight, as Australia’s Trans-Tasman friend, New Zealand, kicks things off with racing from Wingatui at 7:42 p.m. ET.

Four Aussie Thoroughbred meetings follow soon after, with the first from the nation’s capital, Canberra, scheduled for 10:20 p.m. ET.

The other venues available for BetAmerica horseplayers include Tamworth, Ipswich, and Ballarat.

Here are a couple picks to help get your night of Aussie action underway.

Canberra, Race 1: #5 Club Legend

This 4-year-old gelding from the barn of Kembla Grange trainer Theresa Bateup is still chasing his maiden win in his ninth start.

He has strung together a couple encouraging performances this campaign, though, and has been unlucky to miss out on the chocolates with a pair of seconds in his last two starts.

Club Legend will get a drier track for the first time in a while, he drops in weight, and should appreciate the step up in distance.

#4 Dream Maiden will be hard to beat, but Club Legend is up to the task and will start at better odds.

Ballarat, Race 3: #11 Sweet Sixteen

You’ve always got to respect the youngsters who come out of the Peter and Paul Snowden barn.

Sweet Sixteen made her racetrack debut on an extremely wet (heavy 10) track at Warrnambool two weeks ago. She did pretty well to run third, considering she did not look comfortable in the conditions.

She'll get a dry surface and is drawn perfectly in post 1. It’s good to see jockey Daniel Moor stick, and those 9-2 morning line odds are attractive.

Good luck!