Hamillson All The Rage For Australian Sprint

FEATURE racing returns to Sandown Park for the first time in 2022 this Thursday night with twin features the Australian Sprint (515m) and Maidment Memorial (595m).

First run in 2014, the Australian Sprint boasts an honour roll that belies its Listed status with My Bro Fabio, Up Hill Jill and Orson Allen just some of the names to have claimed the $15,000 on offer.

FIELDS AND FORM SANDOWN PARK THURSDAY

TAB has installed track specialist Hamillson as favourite for Thursday night's renewal fresh off his sixth victory from just eight starts at Sandown Park.

Trained in the Melbourne suburb of Frankston, Hamillson will jump from box 1, the same box from which he ran third in a blanket finish to the group 2 Warragul Cup just two starts ago.

Interestingly, despite his excellent overall and good early speed, Hamillson is yet to win from his three starts from the inside draw.

According to the market, Hamillson's biggest challengers will come from Brother Bearing (box 4) and Paddy Wants Pats (box 5) though both have eased from their opening quotes. Nikoli Bale (box 3) is the big firmer in early betting, firming from $9 into $7.50 and enters the race having missed a place just once in eight starts, though has just once in that time.

Carry On Star (box 2) represents great each-way value at his $14 quote. He ran third to Hamillson last time out despite an average getaway from box 8 and is drawn to settle much closer here.

The Maidment Memorial meanwhile, also worth $15,000 to the winner, sees the Gus Selkrig trained Invictus Rising the favourite after drawing box 1.

Invictus Rising finished a close up second to Hamillson over 515m last Thursday and will be well suited to both the step up to middle distance and the inside draw.

While his record shows just one win from four attempts over 595m – albeit in a slick 33.84 – he has also won over 600m at the Meadows and is a feature race winner over 650m at Sale showing his suitability to the trip.

In a mirror image of the Australian Sprint, the market again suggests the biggest threats to the favourite will come from box 4 (Mepunga Warrior) and box 5 (Jarick Bale), while the value looks to be in box 3 with Aston Ulysses.

The Paul Abela chaser is another that has been mixing his distances, but has been racing in excellent fashion contesting three group races in his last six starts, including a fourth place finish over this distance in the group 3 Sir John Dillon Memorial on Melbourne Cup night, and a third at group 2 level over 600m at Albion Park to subsequent group 1 winner Jungle Deuce.

The first of 12 races will jump at 7.04pm with the Maidment Memorial (race 6) at 8.43pm and the Australian Sprint (race 8) at 9.28pm.

Best: Just Like Mick (Race 4, box 6)

Value: Carry On Star (race 8, box 2)

Quaddie:  125 / 1345 / 135 / 123 (46.29 % for $50)