Three meetings in Japan today ahead of a big weekend of racing. We've got meetings from Ohi, Nagoya and Sonoda and have picked out the best bets across the three cards.
Ohi (Tokyo City Keiba) Race 4- #10 Nansei White
Keen on this lightly raced colt who resumed over this track and distance and ran well for third, coming from well back in the field to be beaten just 1.3 lengths. He's only had two career starts, both at Ohi and the debut performance was actually a touch better having won over 1800m in a two-year-old newcomer. There are a number of horses in this field that have highly competitive ratings for this but none are open to as much improvement as Nansei White and I think he's the one who can elevate off the first up run and prove hard to hold out late.
Ohi (Tokyo City Keiba) Race 11- #6 Red Soldado
The feature of the day and it completely hinges on what Red Soldado does. If he turns up at his best, he'll just win, but there are a few potential factors to go against him, the major one being the distance. A mile is shorter than what he's used to performing at with most of his form over 2000m+ however going back further in his form finds a strong win at Sonoda last year over 1870m, and form at Chukyo over 1400m earlier in his career. He also isn't in the best of form at the moment, finishing 16/16 at his past two runs. Diving further again though, his last start was on turf which is a complete forgive, and the start prior was in the Group 1 Champions Cup behind Jun Light Bolt. The start prior he was only 5 lengths off Ushba Tesoro, who recently won the Group 1 Dubai World Cup. I think if he turns up anywhere near that level of form, he'll be winning.
Nagoya Race 7- #4 Sweet Allora
Keen to stick with this filly after a sound run over this track and distance last start when second, beaten half a length. She started $11.50 there having won well over 920m first up and ran some cracking races last preparation, including a win and a second here over 1700m, both of which rate highly enough to win here. The market rarely finds her too short and I think she's able to lead these and kick away at a decent price. #8 Magma Ocean only had the one start last time in, defeated as a $3.20 chance and he's likely to be kept too short again here, allowing us to back Sweet Allora.
Sonoda Race 6- #1 Daisy Flash
Handy race here between a couple of progressive types but Daisy Flash rates on top having won her past two starts before a spell, leading throughout at this track and distance in both. I think that level is good enough to win again here and although she started odds-on in both wins, her main danger #4 Gempachi Shadow started $1.50 before a spell, winning a similar event. There isn't much between the pair but Daisy Flash has more early speed so I think she holds the front and from there, she'll be hard to catch.
