Aquis Raceday at Gold Coast Horse Racing Tips, Best Bets and Race Previews – 8/1/2022

Interesting race between the three-year-olds to start the day.

Manhood has opened the favourite, and rightfully so following a brilliant 2.5L win on debut over 1100m here on Boxing Day.

The Michael Costa-trained colt lapped up the soft track that day, and we can expect similar conditions on Saturday with rain in the forecast.

Frosty Mango looks the main danger for mine.

While she’s drawn wide, that might not worry her after she smoked the line out wide first-up at Doomben where she ran a nose second.

The Hinchinbrook filly loves some sting out of the ground, and jockey Jim Byrne has been responsible for a win and two placings on her previously.

Sir Rocket has gone to another level since joining the Michael Costa stable and he should take beating here on his best form.

The Smart Missile gelding carried 61.5kg’s to a win here two back over the same journey, and then managed to make up big ground after racing wide without cover in his latest assignment when second-up on the Sunshine Coast.

He’s two-from-two at this venue and proven on rain-affected going, making him hard to knock.

There’s a case to be made for a few here, but I’m happy to take a flyer on the Waterhouse and Bott-trained Uncorked.

The daughter of Pierro has shown plenty of ability in two starts so far, finishing runner-up at Randwick three weeks after achieving a similar result on debut at Newcastle behind Russian Conquest.

That horse has since gone on to win again on Boxing Day, and the only real knock on her has been her inability to finish off races.

With a little more fitness and experience though, I think this is her chance from an ideal draw.

Boomnova has missed the frame only once from nine starts, and she again showed her class on Boxing Day at Doomben when leading for most of the way before being nailed late by Mass Destruction.

That was only her second run back, so there’s definite improvement to come, while I also like the look of her soft track form heading into this contest.

Barrier 5 likely sees her push forward again, and she’ll be tough reel in with some fitness now on her side.

We’re getting double figures for The Ritz, which appears good value if you can overlook his first-up disappointment in the Listed Falvelon Quality at Doomben.

The son of Mossman failed to offset the wide gate and never made up ground from the rear that day, but he does warrant plenty of respect here dropping back in class.

The Michael Costa-trained four-year-old was a back-to-back winner before being sent to the paddock during the spring, and he also holds an unblemished 2-0 record to his name at the Gold Coast.

As long as it isn’t too wet, he’s a definite each-way chance.

Love Tap has been up for a while, but his recent form suggests another win might be right around the corner.

The Freedman-trained gelding was seen doing his best work late three weeks ago at Randwick over the mile where not much went right.

He got away awkwardly, found some traffic down the straight, and was even hit over the head by another jockey over the final 100m.

As a previous winner over 1800m, he gets a big tick over this distance, and he’s got a win on soft and heavy going to his name.

Usmanov ticks most of the boxes in the penultimate race on the program.

The son of Choisir was caught a little flat-footed first-up in the Listed Bribie Handicap over further at Eagle Farm, so he should find this much easier dropping back in grade, and to a distance he’s won over four times previously.

The six-year-old won by over a length over this track and distance last May, extending his record at the Gold Coast to four wins from seven visits. His wet track form checks out also.