2015 Wakeful Stakes Field: Favourites Draw Well

The likely top fancies for the fillies’ only Wakeful Stakes 2015 on Victoria Derby Day at Flemington on Saturday have all come up trumps with nice barriers for the Crown Oaks lead-up this Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Ethereal Stakes winner Dawnie Perfect heads towards the Crown Oaks via a 2015 Wakeful Stakes run this Saturday on Victoria Derby Day. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

The $300,000 Group 2 Mumm Wakeful Stakes (2000m) is set to run as Flemington Race 2 at 12:20pm (AEST) on Saturday, one of the nine races Ladbrokes.com.au are offering Best Tote or SP + 20% markets for on the weekend.

A final field of 15 three-year-old fillies will face off in the set weights plus penalties clash, which is the traditional lead-up to the $1 million Group 1 Crown Oaks (2500m) held back at the track this year on Thursday November 5.

With Sacred Eye a non-Wakeful Stakes acceptor, the shortest priced of the runners this weekend in early Crown Oaks odds is Dawnie Perfect ($7.50) prepared by triple VRC Oaks winning trainer Clarry Conners.

Conners’ most recent Crown Oaks winner was Dear Demi (2012) who came off a fourth in the Wakeful, and this season his Big Brown filly Dawnie Perfect is drawn for a gun run on Derby Day jumping from barrier four.

Veteran hoop Jim Cassidy, who boasts five VRC Oaks winning rides including on Dear Demi, retains the ride on Dawnie Perfect this weekend having guided her to a nice three-quarter length victory last time out at Caulfield in the Group 3 Ethereal Stakes (2000m) on October 17.

Also coming out of the Ethereal Stakes into the Wakeful on the weekend is the John O’Shea-trained third placegetter Ambience.

A $9 hope for the Crown Oaks Thursday week, the Godolphin-raced daughter of Street Cry won two on the trot in Sydney including the Listed Dulcify Quality (1600m) by two and a half lengths before her third to Dawnie Perfect in her first look at the 2000m.

She is back over the distance this weekend looking to turn the tables on her last start conqueror from barrier three with ace Sydney-based hoop James McDonald in the saddle again.

Also drawing nicely in the Wakeful Stakes barriers for Saturday is the Robert Smerdon-trained My Poppette jumping from gate two with Dwayne Dunn aboard for her final run this campaign.

Smerdon isn’t pressing onto the Oaks with his Snippetson filly, but still wants to see how she handles the distance in the Wakeful with an eye on tougher autumn assignments next year including the Group 1 Schweppes Oaks (2500m) in Adelaide.

My Poppette ran third in the Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes (1600m) at Flemington at the start of the month before winning on Cox Plate Day last weekend by a tidy two and three-quarter lengths in the Group 2 Moonee Valley Fillies Classic (1600m).

Moonee Valley Fillies Classic runner-up Bengal Cat also returns on a seven day turnaround to run in the Wakeful, the daughter of Bernardini a $34 outsider for the Crown Oaks.

Other fillies coming off nice lead-up runs into the Wakeful field include the Leon MacDonald & Andrew Gluyas-trained Adelaide raider Beluga Blue who won a black-type over 1800m back home on October 10, Chris Waller’s Ethereal Stakes fourth placed Bannatyne and the Gerald Ryan-trained last start Wyong winner over 2100m Muzyka.

Check out the full Wakeful Stakes 2015 field, barriers and jockeys below and then head to Ladbrokes.com.au to enjoy an Extra 50% on your first Fixed Odds winner in Races 1 – 5 on Derby Day this weekend!

2015 Wakeful Stakes Final Field & Barrier Draw

Flemington Race 2 (12:20pm) – 31/10/2015