THE GURU AT SHATIN (OCT 16)

Now that all that hype surrounding John Moore’s Mighty High “winning” the Caulfield Cup is finally over following its almighty flop in Melbourne yesterday, it’s time to focus on far more realistic matters.

And one of these is the CasparFownes-trained Best City which runs at Shatin in Race 9 today.

With apprentice Vincent C Y Ho on it the last time it ran, Best City did everything except win.

It got blocked, then blocked again and then flew home to grab fourth.

With Olivier Delouze aboard this time, I just cannot see it being beaten unless it runs into Robocob.

What’s interesting in this race is to see Fownes’ usual “Damage Control” jockey – Brett Prebble – on the David Ferraris-trained Liberator.

Perhaps Prebble was committed to this ride but if I had the choice, it would be a no-contest.

Don’t, however, be surprised if it runs the quinella or a quinella/place .

The other horses I’ll be following is another Fownes runner in Mighty K (Race 4) which ran a mighty race first up and the John Size first-starter Tuxedo (Race 5) and with Douglas Whyte onboard.

Many of us have been waiting for months for this galloper to appear in a race, as it looks like being a very good horse – one of many new ones with Size.

Take Tuxedo in quinellas and quinella/place bets with the Tony Cruz galloper Always Something, Intellectualstride and Fownes’ Affluence Of Rain which has been disappointing to date.

There was a time last season when we thought this horse was going to be a champion.

It’s been more like a chump-ion and have made chumps of many.

The other horse I am a very big fan of is John Moore’s Destined  For Glory and Dennis C H Yip’s Fat Choy Oohlala, again, with Whyte up and riding at his last meeting before starting a two-meeting suspension.

These two horses clash in the Ladies Purse (Race 7) and I will be taking both of these and Jacobee in a boxed quinella.

This is the second leg of the second Double Trio and looks quite easy but the first leg – Race 6 – is a trappy affair with around 7-8 horses having chances.

I am leaning towards Honey Fortune and Chancellor – especially the latter.

Douglas Whyte looks to have a very strong book of rides – Lifeline Elite, Prosperity, John Dory though not one of my favourite horses, the aforementioned Tuxedo, Sharema Feeling – though Ferraris-trained horses are very hard to follow – Fay Fay (drawn awkwardly) and Voile Rouge with the only other jockeys looking to give him any competition in the Jockeys Challenge being that of usual suspect Brett Prebble and an in-form Darren Beadman.

Also, after a pretty quiet few meetings, ten-pound claimer Alvin K C Ng seems to be on some decent chances, most noticeably outsider Notus (Race 2) and the much more in-the-market Costa Del So (Race 8).

For the first time this season, The Guru goes into “do battle” with a stout heart and a fistful of dollars.

#THEGURUFASTTRACK