Don't Look A Gift Horse In The Mouth Says Eskander

Punters may be overstating Speed Gifted's ability in the wet according to Betstar's Alan Eskander. Lee Freedman's imported galloper is the big mover in early markets on tomorrow's Makybe Diva Stakes on the back of a bleak Melbourne forecast for tonight and tomorrow but Eskander has suggested punters may be getting ahead of themselves.

"We've already wound him in from his opening quote of $10 to $7. Everyone reckons he's a superior mudrunner because he won the Metropolitan on a bog track but remember he only carried 53 kgs that day and the class of horse he beat doesn't compare to what he'll meet tomorrow. In the autumn, he flopped both times in his two runs on slow tracks yet in between those runs he was placed third on a dead track against similar opposition. He's won his only two starts at Flemington but both times on a Good 3 so I'm not convinced he's the "muddy" that most people seem to think," said Eskander.

Eskander said he expects last year's Makybe Diva Stakes winner Vigor to be well supported on his home track where he's won five races. "He won here at his only run on a heavy track and I thought his first-up run behind Shoot Out in the Liston was a beauty - he's the one to beat," Eskander said.

MAKYBE DIVA STAKES MARKET