Banking on a smart Cashout in Pools H’cap

The Singapore Pools Handicap is back in Sydney for the second year running and promises to be as exciting, if not more, this time round.

Last year’s inaugural edition at Royal Randwick on June 7, 2025 saw Headley Grange’s win take the Joseph Pride-trained sprinter on an upward spiral towards a slew of wins in open company, culminating with the Group 1 Kingsford-Smith Cup (1,300m) at Eagle Farm on May 30.

While no exciting prospect in the Headley Grange mould figures among the nine-horse field in the second renewal, to be held this time at Rosehill on Nov 7 at 11.50am Singapore time, the extreme competitiveness of the A$160,000 (S$143,000) Benchmark 78 contest should produce the perfect appetiser to the day’s highlight, the Group 3 Five Diamonds (1,800m) two hours later.

Melbourne visitor Cashout is the favourite to take the spoils, with his consistent record of four wins (three of them at his second prep after he was gelded) and two placings in seven starts a clear factor, albeit his hunting ground has been mostly around the Victorian provincial circuit at tracks like Pakenham, Cranbourne and Geelong.

Prepared by Mick Price and Michael Kent Jr, the Capitalist four-year-old will have to handle the other way of going first, not to mention an opposition which on paper is a touch stronger than the one he beat back home, but is still hard to line up due to his zero exposure to Sydney form.

The one asset in Cashout’s favour is his natural gate speed coupled with barrier No. 3. He is a free-flowing galloper who should extend when let loose, once he switches onto the right leg.

While Sydney jockey Dylan Gibbons will be riding him for the first time, he would have watched videos of the speedy gelding and would no doubt be well briefed before he gets the leg-up in the mounting yard.

There are a few customers who might rival with Cashout in the speed department, such as Rose Aye and Shotgun Bella, but they have drawn on his outside. Wootton Lass has drawn two, but her recent form has been ordinary.

Gibbons, who rode Wootton Lass to last place in the Silver Eagle (1,300m) on Oct 17, jumps off to ride Cashout and that is also a strong pointer.

If there was to be a nemesis to Cashout, he or she would hail from off the pace. Bella Khadijah for Hawkesbury trainer Brad Widdup may well fit the bill.

At her last start, the five-year-old mare by Pierata was resuming from a four-month let-up, and lost no marks with a closing fourth to Decorum in a Benchmark 88 race over 1,400m at Rosehill on Sept 26.

She has had another freshen-up of six weeks, and dropping back to an easier class and the added bonus of getting VRC Oaks-winning jockey Zac Lloyd (Proxima Dea) in the saddle enhance her chances.

The other Victorian in the field, Pasadena, may well pinch a spot on the trifecta.

At his last start in a Benchmark 66 over 1,200m in Ballarat, the two-time winner by Exceedance flew home from last to run second for Luke Currie.

Team Hawkes are always a threat when they send their Melbourne horses up north, and with the booking of their go-to Sydney jockey Tyler Schiller, Pasadena may well be thundering home late.

One horse to be wary of is Accidental Bid from Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Ciaron Maher. Recently gelded, he presented nicely at the top of the straight at his barrier trial at Gosford on Oct 28, finishing fourth in a bunched-up finish under a tight hold.

The English import by Phoenix Of Spain is a stayer who won a Pakenham race by nearly eight lengths once he hit the 2,000m trip. But he then disappointed in the Group 1 Queensland Derby (2,400m) on May 30, though he was a Northern Hemisphere-bred taking on older horses.

The 1,400m will be on the short side this time, but the grey-bay gelding can still inject some value into the combination bets.