By Graeme White
It is one of racing’s longest sequences without a win spanning almost five years, but Intuition is again well suited to break through in the $75,000 Moruya Cup (1425m) on Monday.
Intuition ($6.50 on TAB) hasn’t won since taking out the $140,000 Listed Hawkesbury Rush in April, 2017, when he was trained by James Cummings.
The galloper has raced in all but one of his starts for current trainer Kurt Goldman in metropolitan grade in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
His only country appearance resulted in a solid sixth behind Marway in the Wagga Town Plate in May of last year and his assignment on Monday isn’t as strong as that race or many others he has contested in recent starts.
The seven-year-old ran fourth last start behind Holyfield at Randwick on December 26 when he was beaten only two and a half lengths. It’s a drop in grade for Intuition who is yet to win in 16 starts since he last tasted success but winning again isn’t beyond the well-performed galloper.
The topweight Peyton Place ($5.50) will carry 63 kilograms – two more kilograms than Intuition.
Girls Are Ready ($5 favourite) was scratched from Canberra last week and is coming off a last-start victory on a wet surface. Trainer Joe Cleary agreed having the edge off the track was advantageous to Girls Are Ready.
The track is expected to be rated as good and the mare has only won on soft and heavy tracks.
“She goes great in the wet, but she is a class act and I expect her to run well on the good track,” Cleary said. “Peyton Place has to give her eight kilograms and I don’t think he will be able to do that.”
Onsettling Down ($23) was impressive winning his latest start at Wagga, while Banger ($8.50) is nearing another win after being close-up in recent starts.
Meanwhile, the Showcase meeting offering huge prizemoney will also feature the $50,000 Moruya Town Plate (1200m). A crowd of around 2500 is expected for the popular meeting with eight races to be conducted.
View the final fields with full form & race replays for Moruya here