Down in Melbourne, Darren Weir’s Burning Front has come up predictably short as he looks to repeat his win from 12 months ago in the VOBIS Gold Star (Race 4) over 1500m at Moonee Valley.
He’s a horse that just loves to race and his fighting qualities were on display at Caulfield last start as he fought off a challenge from Hellova Street to land the prize in Heat 8 of the Summer Champ’s.
Under the set weights and penalties conditions, he appears extremely well weighted with 60kgs and from gate five, jockey Brad Rawiller should be able to box seat comfortably enough.
He looks the good thing of the day but we’re in the business of taking bets so punters are encouraged to load up on him and set us back on our heels.
His main opposition is expected to come from John Salanitri’s Hard Call, who was able to hug the rails and earn a run up along the inside before surging away to win easily at Caulfield on Boxing Day.
Weir’s other starter, Refulgent, will also carry 60kgs and is the only other runner under double figures in our early Fixed odds market.
He too, comes off a last start win where he got the bob in to land the Koroit Cup in a blanket finish at Warrnambool recently.
Clearly headed in the straight, the horse showed trademark Weir tenacity to kick back and win but he’s a bit less reliable than the favourite and might have to settle for the placings.
