Focus on Vicbred first round heats.

After last weekend’s exciting QBred Finals series at Albion Park, this weekend the attention turns on Victoria and their highly anticipated VicBred Series.

Kilmore opens proceedings on Thursday evening with six heats for the colts and geldings and three heats for the fillies. It will make for interesting racing as there are no standouts so we should get a competitive set of semi Finals for Saturday 5 September and the $150,000 Finals for Saturday 12 September.

The interstate contingent is headed by Luke McCarthy who has three runners namely Rewatch, The Niteshift and Elector while fellow New South Wales trainer Michael Stanley has Soho Washington, Soho Trump, Soho Park Avenue, Soho Piastri, Soho Charmer while his sole runner in the fillies division is Enola.

Brad Hewitt has a most interesting runner in the Lather Up gelding Enjabonarlo while Bruce Harpley has the well performed Neptunite who has drawn behind Rewatch in his heat.

Emma Stewart has a usual strong hand in the event with the likes of Midnight Moth, Enjoy Life, Star Vision, The Final Dance, Seaside Boy, Most Exciting and Mount Barker Boy engaged in the colts and geldings divisions.

She has an even more formidable presence in the fillies divisions with Pre Eminant,  Bettor Beach, Quatro Moth, and My Bettor Half which should safely qualify for the semi finals the following week at Melton.

Friday night at Melton sees the first round of heats for the two year olds.

The colts and geldings first heat sees the appearance of promising colt Smack Bang Bart but he’ll face plenty of opposition of those drawn inside him such Letitrideluv and Shane Sanderson’s colt Fully Reckless.

Emma Stewart has a strong hand in the second heat with Some High but once again he’ll be tested by Soho Bellagio who impressed at his sole appearance winning at Menangle and Kings Gallery who has won his last two on end.

Cardigan Sniper will surely drive for the lead in Heat 3, and it will be keen race with the main opposition including stable mate Auston and Lake Como.

The fillies divisions are dominated by the favourites and in each heat the likes of Soho Aster, Ideal Frankie and Kahula are sure to be prominent throughout.

The Rod and Fran Fitzpatrick Tatlow stakes for two year olds is the main event at Menangle on Saturday evening. The inform Jason Grimson which is sweeping all before it holds the key to the race with highly promising youngsters Hes A Dancer and Oh Its On. They can do wrong and waiting for that that opportunity if it occurs is the Matt Rue trained Blissful Lover who is sure to want to lead from the pole draw.

All eyes will be on the Italian bred trotter Gandhi Mail who tackles the Trotters feature. Last start he had torrid run when caught wide at Menangle but he’s better than that and expect him to run a forward race.

However the race will be full of interest with the presence of the in form I Am Hellbound, Pesco Pollo and Cormoran Strike.

Melton on Saturday evening sees the evergreen Bulletproof Boy facing much weaker opposition in the Free For All. This will be his second start this time in and he’ll run a much sharper race. Nine other competitive events will highlight the card.

Albion Park’s main feature has attracted only six runners but in what will be a keen race may well be a rematch from a fortnight ago when Attachement edged out leader Cheerstolou with Whisper A Secret a close third. The three are set to clash again and one should never under estimate the presence of prolific winning Tims A Trooper.

By Tony Milanese for Harnesslink