Best Bets for Belmont Newmarket Day.

Racing heads back to Belmont this weekend with the running of the Listed Belmont Newmarket over 1200m.

Another rainy Saturday is forecast in Perth, with up to 25mm expected on race day, with the track rated a Soft 5 on Thursday and the rail out 7m.

The prospect of another soggy track makes things tricky to assess, however the track played very fair on Wednesday with the rail right in the 15m position.

While maybe not a vintage edition of the Newmarket, there are some high points with the likes of H.G. Bolton winner WIND AND THE LION turning up, along with a quartet of returners who begin their trek to The Pinnacles.

Wind And The Lion is the only one the early market wants out of the Bolton, coming up as the early favourite and rightfully so. The son of Written By was very strong late in the Bolton and with the aid of an inside barrier and Pike again, it's easy to think he can repeat the dose.

Stormchaser, Saloon Bar and Fast Flicker all find themselves in the top half of betting, with queries surrounding them all as they return to the races.

Saloon Bar is the only one of that trio to have been sighted publicly, though the trial was disappointing on that occasion. It would be some training performance to turn him around off that showing, and the wide barrier makes me think connections will use this as a kickoff point, rather than a target race.

Stormchaser does go well fresh, and while he is only 73 days between runs, it still would've been ideal to see him at the trials. The booking of Chris Parnham suggests he's going well, but he's another who may find himself out the back in a horrible position, and without knowing how well he's tracking, he can go without me. The same can be said for Fast Flicker who was good throughout last campaign over 1400m and has won a couple times first-up. She does possess early speed, though without seeing her publicly, I'm willing to let her through to the keeper in the Newmarket.

Earlier on in the day, DECISION MAKER lines up for Neville and Brad Parnham in Race 2, the Neville Parnham Handicap.

Fitting, as I think he can get the job done following a strong performance last start where he clocked some fast splits late in the race. 

The big key for Decision Maker is the barrier on Saturday, drawing a much better gate which will allow the gelding to sit closer than he did last time out.

Impressive Jewel ran in the Belmont Oaks two back before dropping in trip to break her maiden last start. She jumps right up in grade now and while those figures were solid, there's nothing that really stands out about them. She sat on the speed that day and if she can do so again from barrier 11 is the query, and that's a big push for Decision Maker if he settles in front of her.

Only a couple of races later, TRUE PLAYER lines up again for Team Williams and William Pike after a plain effort last start in this grade where he jumped the favourite.

He got back on a tricky day at Bunbury and never really got into the race.

The draw is the niggle, but he's been able to sit close to the speed over this trip in previous campaigns and he can go to another level now in what looks a very suitable race for him.

While many of his rivals are well exposed, he may still have some upside about him and that makes him an attractive proposition.

The Best From The West

Race 2 #7 DECISION MAKER

Race 4 #1 TRUE PLAYER

Race 7 #4 WIND AND THE LION