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TAB Classic an irresistible puzzle

The presence of champion mare Sunlight, the X-factor provided by star two-year-old Away Game, the quality of the rest of the field, plus the prospect of a wet track combine to make Saturday’s 2020 TAB Classic (Sangster Stakes) an irresistible puzzle for racing purists and punters alike.

With $6.5 million in the bank and an outstanding record at the highest level, Sunlight has long been the popular pick for Morphettville’s 1200m Group 1 event for fillies and mares.

Sunlight has a Coolmore Stud Stakes, Newmarket Handicap and Magic Millions Classic already on her resume and is the horse to beat, despite drawing wide for jockey Barend Vorster. Importantly, she has been placed on all three of her slow-track starts and showed last start behind Gytrash she is building to a peak performance for trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy.

Away Game has only burst into TAB Classic calculations over the past month, when canny trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace made it clear the prospect of running their star two-year-old in the race was more than a thought bubble.

In her astonishing seven-start career, Away Game has won in three states and has an outstanding record in the three major two-year-old races: Magic Millions Classic (first), Blue Diamond (fourth) and Golden Slipper (second). Away Game will carry just 47kg for jockey Dean Holland – from an ideal barrier – and has enjoyed a typically well-spaced break into the race, after taking out a Group 2 race on a heavy Randwick track on April 11.

NSW trainer David Pfieffer’s I Am Excited has the second-highest handicap rating in the race, behind Sunlight, and had excellent Sydney carnival form, including a win in the Group 1 Galaxy (on a soft 5), with subsequent TJ Smith winner Tofane among those in her wake.

Bam’s On Fire (also trained by the Maher-Eustace combination) brings Melbourne form to the TAB Classic, particularly a last start win in a Group 3 race at Caulfield over 1400m, leading all the way. Spanish Whisper, from the Hayes-Hayes-Dabernig yard, was a little unlucky behind Bam’s On Fire, but has drawn wide. Blue Diamond winner Lyre, prepared in Melbourne by Anthony Freedman (who won this race in 2018 with Shoals), is the sole three-year-old in the race and ran well recently in a Listed race over 1100m at Caulfield,

An Adelaide lead-up was taken out in emphatic style by Will Clarken’s Bella Vella, who led all the way to comfortably win the Hills Railway Stakes over 1000m at Morphettville on Easter Saturday. Bella Vella boasts a good record on rain-affected tracks.

Local jockey Shayne Cahill (Teleplay) is gunning for his third Sangster Stakes win, while Paul Gatt (Amberdi) is aiming for his second.

Selection: 1. Away Game; 2. Sunlight; 3. I Am Excited; 4. Bella Vella

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