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By Brad Gray

The Bryce Heys-trained 16. Mailata is jumping 1200m to 1400m and is five weeks between runs. Perhaps not an ideal set up but she chased home Money Team at Gosford last start in a Provincial Midway Qualifier having been shuffled back in the run. Ran well in Midway company back in February. Has won a trial since last start.

Dangers: 7. Piraeus is never an easy watch. He looked more likely to run first than last at the top of the straight at Rosehill last start but kept rallying to finish second to 3. Tenderize. He’s better suited back onto a dry track and out to 1400m. Looks perfectly paired with Nash Rawiller. 1. Northern Eyes is improving at each run back and won a Midway over this track and trip last campaign. 2. Forecaster is good enough if the market suggests he’s ready first up.

How To Play It: Mailata WIN

5. Syrian Star is yet to win a Highway despite having seven cracks. Second is as close as she’s come but luck has deserted her in a few of those defeats. Her get back pattern doesn’t help there. Showed good improvement second up out to 1450m when runner up to Fingers Hunter at Muswellbrook last start. Should be at her top now third up. Draws soft.

Dangers: 9. Win The Day has won her past two starts, the latest by a space at the Sapphire Coast. She was potentially flattered by the heavy track but she’s a mare still improving. Respect the placement of Joseph and Jones stable targeting this now fifth up. 3. Rouge Moulin’s second to Gallant Star reads well for this. He didn’t measure up subsequently in the Country Championships Final but this is a drop back in grade.

How To Play It: Syrian Star WIN

1. Swiftfalcon’s lack of positional speed proved costly in the Carbine Clube Stakes over the mile two weeks ago. He couldn’t run down Evaporate but he beat the rest by more than two lengths. Prior to that he made an early move in the Rosehill Guineas out to 2000m beaten less than a length by Broadsiding with the subsequent Derby winner Aeliana a luckless second. Putting the race into perspective is the fact that Firm Agreement is second favourite. He has run brilliantly in the Tulloch and the Derby since the Randwick Guineas but Swiftfalcon beat him home by eight lengths there. If you took the odds on quote about Swiftfalcon a fortnight ago you were left licking your wounds but he should atone for that here. Should be winning.

Dangers: In the defence of 2. Firm Agreement he has continued to improve with each run this autumn. He was beaten five lengths when second in the Derby but had to like the way he still kept finding the line despite chasing a lost cause. Has to freshen up back to 2000m. 3. Plymouth found himself in front in the Derby and knocked up late to be well beaten. He looked suited back in trip given what he did in the Rosehill Guineas prior when not far away from Swiftfalcon at the finish despite having excuses himself. A return to that form makes him a key player in this but the early market has identified that. Did jump $9 in the Derby. 6. Sigiriya Rock was working home well in the Carbine, suggesting he wants this trip now. Finds James McDonald.

How To Play It: Swiftfalcon WIN

1. Clean Energy covered ground when a close up fourth in the PJ Bell Stakes two weeks ago. It was a busy finish with very little separating the first four home but she was the runner with genuine excuses. That was as a $2.60 favourite. The way she stuck on through the line suggests 1400m won’t be an issue with a more economical run. Prior to last start Clean Energy defied the track bias at Moonee Valley making a sweeping run from near last to win at Moonee Valley. The Zoustar filly does appear to appreciate getting her toe into the ground which is unlikely on Saturday given the forecast but she’s too lightly raced to read too much her current record. Will punch up to be in the first four from the soft gate.

Dangers: 2. Zeitung was shut down prior to the line in the PJ Bell when it got tight in the straight. She should have finished a touch closer. Loved the way she found the line behind Enriched first up in the Fireball. Looks to be trending towards another win. The 1400m holds no fears for her. She too would have appreciated some rain around. 7. Dame Commander was placed in a Spring Stakes to end her first preparation. She looks a filly that takes riding, to click through her gears but with natural improvement into her second campaign she can run well at odds. Won a recent Rosehill trial. 3. Snow In May would nearly be on top had she drawn a barrier. Maps to be last. Brings a different form line into this having held her own against the older mares in the Emancipation.

How To Play It: Clean Energy WIN

14. Sharp Shock is not a straightforward horse to peg down as far as patterns, best distances or settling positions but he is not without a chance on Saturday at big odds. The five-year-old charged to the line when second to Celui at Muswellbrook first up over 1000m. He gets a 3.5kg weight swing on that horse. There looks to be a big discrepancy in their early prices off their respective runs. He jumped well but had to be restrained back to last, making a wide run to get into second. The gamble is whether he already wants 1400m but there is enough in the early price to take the punt. He won a Coonamble Cup last campaign out to the mile before 12 days later winning over 1100m with 63kg on his back. Just want to see Reece Jones, his regular rider, hold a position from the soft draw.

Dangers: 3. Celui lumped 63kg to victory there, hitting the ground running for Richard and Will Freedman. That was on the back of two impressive trials. The four-year-old lost his way a touch last campaign hence the change of scenery up from Melbourne. Has always been a talented horse. 9. Countyourblessings didn’t show up in two runs in Queensland last preparation. She is better than that. Tends to fly fresh and she won a recent Rosehill trial, which was her second. 8. Need Some Luck started delivering on his promise last campaign having been gelded. Has trialled well and looks set up to improve again this time back. 11. Iron Man was a first up winner last time in before holding his own in similar races.

How To Play It: Sharp Shock EACH WAY

6. New Endeavour has put together two back-to-back runs now. Happy to trust that he’ll hold that form third up over 2000m. His two wins overseas were over 1400m but he does have two close up seconds over this trip from Queensland a year ago. The Waterhouse and Bott-trained import hit the line hard in the Ajax Stakes over 1500m first up from the second half of the field before being heavily backed second up in the Doncaster Prelude. He travelled sweetly and presented like the winner but bumped into a superior wet tracker in Just Folk who ran through the line after leading. Ducasse closed off to run third with four lengths back to Encap in fourth. Can slide forward to offset the wide draw.

Dangers: Will 3. Encap run 2000m? We won’t know until after Saturday. The timing is right to try. He backed up his run behind New Endeavour with a slashing third in the Doncaster behind Stefi Magnetica. He wasn’t suited by the lack of pressure either. 4. Klondike has his first run in Australia. Respect the booking of James McDonald. The barrier doesn’t help but is already a Group Three winner. 5. Palmetto is tough and very fit while 13. Touristic bounced back last start.

How To Play It: New Endeavour WIN

2. Nepotism was a dominant winner of the Baillieu two weeks ago, defying a late drift. We haven’t seen too many dominant two-year-old performances this autumn. The Brutal colt was deep ended on debut, running third in the Todman behind Tentyris and Wodeton. That was despite striking traffic in the straight. The gamble on Saturday is where he gets to from the dry. In all in markets ahead of the Champagne Stakes he was rated a $2.50 chance. Now having drawn 11 he is getting out to an attractive price. From what we have seen in two runs, he doesn’t look to possess tactical speed so that’ll likely see Tyler Schiller drift back but he’s an improving youngster who has the right platform to build further off his last start win.

Dangers: 7. Within The Law doesn’t have the most conventional set up, coming through a Percy Sykes over 1200m last Saturday but her pedigree suggests the mile should be okay. She’s out of a Dundeel mare. Could prove to be an opportunistic piece of placement from Bjorn Baker. Maps to be in front a lot of her market dangers. 3. Buffalo looks the obvious one to take out of the Sires. The red flag is that there was 0.7 of a length from first to fifth but he was finishing powerfully, making up a length on State Visit in the last 100m. He is still very raw though. Lacks early speed to make use of the gate but like that Jason Collett has ridden him three times already. 6. Federalist looked new himself in the Sires but his work through the line suggests that he could relish the mile.

How To Play It: Nepotism WIN

2. Briasa was given the run of the race in the TJ Smith Stakes two weeks ago and he took full advantage. Tyler Schiller parked the grey one out one back and he chased down Overpass in what was a sprint home. There were eye-catching closers making late ground but there was over a length back to third. On Saturday, the four-year-old maps to get exactly the same run. That makes him the horse to beat. There is one leader with 8. Belclare running the race as she pleases to set the tempo. That suggests you won’t want to be in the second half again, just like the TJ Smith. Briasa does have to run out a strong 1400m, previously untried at the trip but everything points to him having no trouble with the trip.

Dangers: 4. Jimmysstar looks the most likely to turn the tables on Briasa given how he found the line in the TJ Smith. His last 600m split was the quickest of the entire meeting. Where he lets himself down is his lack of early speed. Might be wishful thinking in hoping that he can use the middle draw to settle closer. Wanted to take on the lone three-year-old 14. Broadsiding coming back from 2000m to 1400m but the map looks very kind to the Rosehill Guineas winner. Aeliana and Linebacker have franked his autumn form lines. James McDonald rides. Starting to weaken. 10. Joliestar looked a touch flat in the TJ but she was hard fence which was inferior. Respect that she jumped a well backed $3.30 favourite. 11. Kimochi was brave there covering ground. Looks to want 1400m. 1. Antino could ambush late from the inside draw.

How To Play It: Briasa WIN

Going to have a throw at the stumps with 3. Phearson at big odds. Don’t think the market is giving him enough respect. His last two first up runs have been terrific, winning at Randwick over 1300m beating New Energy two back before last campaign boxing on bravely to run third behind Joliestar in a high rating Show County. He travelled wide the trip on that occasion. He has always been a keen going style of horse but that has been curbed as he has matured. The rest of his spring didn’t pan out but on the back of two eye-catching trials at Rosehill he looks set to bounce back. The latest of those was behind Belclare. This looks a wide open race and he should get his chance to overachieve given where he has drawn.

Dangers: 7. Ostraka was left a sitting shot at Rosehill in the Star Kingdom, picked off late by General Salute and 12. Dragonstone. He might face a similar scenario here given he’ll have to work from the wide gate to find a position but he’ll be a long way in front of that pair again. Has won his past two starts at Randwick. Speedy Queenslander 6. Zarastro deserves respect if he’s here, as does the resuming 10. Xidaki and 13. Coal Crusher who gets the blinkers back on. That’s an important gear change.

How To Play It: Phearson EACH WAY

3. Mighty Ulysses won a Group Two in Melbourne first up over the spring, chasing down Buffalo River and Pinstriped. That saw him start a $10 chance at Flemington where Another Wil and Jimmystar were the only two runners shorter in betting. Mighty Ulysses didn’t fire second up but he isn’t the most consistent horse so that’s no huge surprise. Forgive him that. There is enough in the early price to take the punt that the best version shows up again fresh at Randwick. He was fourth in a Festival Stakes behind Private Eye as an $8 chance third up. The point is that he shouldn’t be such long odds in this grade. Resumes on the back of two good trials at Warwick Farm and Rosehill. Looks well placed here in a BM100 after the 2kg claim of Braith Nock.

Dangers: 5. Tavi Time should get the speed to suit first up over 1400m. He won out to 2000m in the Summer Cup last campaign but ran well fresh over this trip last time in, giving away an impossible start. James McDonald has ridden him once for a win. 16. Cool Jakey will give a sight in front. 2. Amenable drops back to benchmark company. It was third up last time autumn he ran second in an All Aged Stakes, albeit on a heavy track.

How To Play It: Mighty Ulysses EACH WAY

All the fields, form and replays for All Aged Stakes Day at Randwick