The Gunstar is fancied to charge into the Australasian Breeders Crown semi finals with a win in the second three-year-old colts and geldings repechage at Maryborough on Monday.
The son of D M Dilinger will be backing up after a second placing at Yarra Valley last Monday and has been installed a $1.80 favourite for Monday’s qualifier.
While beaten as a $2.30 favourite last start, he was far from disgraced and did win his previous four starts to announce himself a bona fide Breeders Crown contender.
The gelding will start from barrier five on Monday and will be piloted by Chris Alford in the race to be run at 3.40pm.
His toughest competition should come from the horses drawn in barriers one and two.
The Peter Manning-trained, Kerryn Manning-driven Jilliby Prince should relish barrier one after encountering some tough luck in recent draws, while the dashing Mister Grizzly is drawn to run a typically bold race from barrier two.
Monday’s other colts and geldings repechage is a wide-open affair with Lucky Reign the only one of the seven runners at double-figure odds.
Heading the betting chart is Tony Pullicino’s last-start Globe Derby winner Lombo Limmo, who has been marked the $2.80 early favourite after landing barrier three in the race set down for 4.58pm.
Monday’s repechages are the last chance for three-year-olds to qualify for the Breeders Crown semi-finals, which will be run at Ballarat on Tuesday, August 14.
