3 Group races in SA and The Hondo Grattan at Menangle on Saturday

[Messenger]

The SA Derby is the first of them at 7.24 AEDST and probably the best chance for the locals to keep some of the big prizemoney along with Emain Macha in the Pacing Cup

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=GD080220

While in The Hondo we see Self Assured v Balraj

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=PC080220#PCM08022002

[Messenger]

The favourite for the South Australian Trotters Cup is the Emergency Ronald J who is hoping to get his first start in Oz

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=GD080220#GDC08022007

[Messenger]

The favourite for the South Australian Trotters Cup is the Emergency Ronald J who is hoping to get his first start in Oz

http://www.harness.org.au/racing/fields/race-fields/?mc=GD080220#GDC08022007

He did not get a start

[Messenger]

It is not often that a horse who has won 6 in a row is quoted at 200/1 in the prepost market
but that is the case with Wet My Whistle in the Hondo
he may start much shorter, 10 minutes to start time he is showing 80/1 fixed on the NSW TAB

[Messenger]

WMW ended up 60/1 and ran last, the horse who had won ten in a row ran second last

[aussiebreno]

First quarter sorted Balraj out

What a win Pat Stanley. Sugars got away with a sub-par drive in the Derby but not this time BUT Ken Rogers deserves a 12 month suspension for his drive. As exciting as it made the race that was a shocker.

[Messenger]

A gutsy effort by Pat Stanley to win the SA Cup and he was only 0.4 secs outside Smolda's Tk Rec

At least the locals won the 2yo

[Messenger]

First quarter sorted Balraj out

.
It did Brendan but made Self Assured and Demon Delight's runs pretty impressive as they too went hard early

[Showgrounds]

Self Assured classes above, Balraj 25.8 out of the gate did not show his usual "pep", so to speak.

Seriously though, Self Assured had won $300,000 from his 12 lifetime starts coming into the race. Balraj, from 13 starts, had won less than $48,000. This suggests to me he was able to bully his way through weeker classes. Self Assured was thrown in the deep end early days and proved he was up to the best from day one. Very brave, those who backed Balraj.