12.13pm – Eagle Farm – Race 2 – BARAZIN

As he’s got older, Barazin has developed roughly the same enthusiasm for leaving the gates as I have for leaving the pub when someone else is shouting.

But this is an awesome race for him.

His run last start was excellent and it’s pretty simple — if he reproduces that figure, he wins this.

The concern is there’s limited speed and he’ll get back, so his supporters should prepare themselves for three minutes of screaming at the television and questioning every decision they’ve ever made.

He’s not the horse he once was, but thankfully he doesn’t need to be here.

The main danger looks Captain Maverick — and considering he hasn’t won for 752 days, I’m not exactly losing sleep. At this point he gets an anniversary card from the TAB every time he goes around.

WIN CONFIDENCE: 7/10

2.25pm – Randwick – Race 5 – ZAPHOD

Someone has made a mistake here.

Zaphod is $41 — which is INSANE.

Now, before everyone starts refinancing the house, this is a race with about eight winning chances. But Zaphod is absolutely one of them.

If you love a roughie, this is your race.

He likes some give in the ground, should get a lovely run and his ratings are absolutely good enough for a race like this. At $41, we aren't asking him to marry our daughter — we're just asking him to give us a thrill for 2 minutes.

I’ve actually got IMINTOWIN on top and it’s around $13, so there is some enormous value here for exotics.

Why the big prices?

Because Unleashing is around $1.90.

Can it win? Absolutely.

Would I take $1.90?

Only if my accountant rang and said I'd somehow developed an urgent hatred of money.

It was good last start, but $1.90 is the sort of price where the bookmaker should at least buy you dinner before taking your money.

Zaphod — don’t be shy at $41.

I’ll be surprised if he’s not somewhere around the finish.

5.09pm – Newcastle – Race 7 – CALSTAR

He’s come back fine this horse and there’s nothing wrong with him.

Unfortunately, there are about seven winning chances in the race and I’ve got him sitting just outside all seven of them.

That’s racing’s equivalent of turning up at the nightclub at 2am and being told: “Mate, not tonight.”

Definitely a horse worth following because I think there’s a win in him this preparation.

I just don't think today is the day.

Each-way confidence: 3/10

Cheer enthusiastically. Invest like you’ve got school fees due Monday.

6.05pm – Kalgoorlie – Race 7 – SPACEWALK

Now this is interesting.

The June 2025 version of Spacewalk wins this race by 3–4 lengths eased down.

The slight problem is that since then he’s completed about one-and-a-half races and celebrated two birthday's.

So the million-dollar question is:

Is the old boy still in there?

At $21, I’m prepared to pay the admission fee to find out.

There should be genuine speed, and if he can land three or four back on the fence and get the suck run, things could get very interesting very quickly.

The stable is confident he’ll run well and they know their horse considerably better than the bloke writing this from his lounge room.

Each-way confidence: 5/10

Basically, I have absolutely no idea — but at $21 I'm prepared to find out.

One important warning though: Cessation looks the bet in the race on current form, so make sure you’ve got something going that way as well.

Spacewalk is the speculative play.

If the 2025 model turns up, we’re drinking champagne. If the 2026 model turns up, we’re deleting the betting app and telling everyone we never backed him.