Fancy Red anything but expensive for favourite followers as in-form filly takes on Belmont Oaks field

Fancy Red has been anything but expensive for punters in the lead-up to Saturday’s Listed $125,000 Belmont Oaks (2019m) at Bunbury where she will again start favourite. The daughter of Sessions has started the market elect in four of her last six runs and emerged successful each time, with her most recent win just seven days prior to this clash. From gate one, Fancy Red sat midfield before William Pike squeezed her home along the fence to win by a length and a half going away from her graduation-class rivals. But despite her winning form and followers’ confidence, trainer Adam Durrant says her even-money price is way too short. “We’re under no illusions; $2 is ridiculous,” Durrant told TABradio. “She’s got the Pike tax because she won her last start but when you start breaking down the field… they’re never generally that strong. “I’ve won them before with horses that aren’t genuine stayers and never see that distance again. “We’ve got to plan how we can hopefully just ride her quiet, which is how she seems to race best. “Hopefully she can just get away with it but we’re under no illusions and it should be $5 the field; she shouldn’t be $2. “If it was 1400m or 1600m, perhaps, but it is what it is, and we’ll take our chance to get some black type.” Durrant has a rich history with the Oaks going back almost two decades when he prepared Kia Ora Miss to win in 2006. He had to wait until 2013 before Summah’s Touch provided him with a second but collected the trophy the following year with the Pike-ridden Tick Tick Bloom. He again shared the spoils with Pike in 2023 with Ihts Closing Inn, the fifth of the champion hoop’s six wins in the event after scoring with the Grant and Alana Williams-trained Petrouchka last year. Fancy Red steps into unknown territory having her first start beyond a mile in distance, however, that is the case for the bulk of her opponents, too. “Distance wise, it’s a roll of the dice,” Durrant said. “She certainly wouldn’t have been taking on the boys over this trip and we’ll rely on a filly that’s in the zone. “She ran through the line strongly the other day, so we’ll have a crack. “The run last Saturday, that was her bonus run. We knew she was going really well and in good form and wasn’t looking for the paddock. “We thought she could win that race, and that’s a bonus race, and then it was a good trial hit-out for this week.” Showlas ($5.50) is the only other horse in the field is at single-digit odds after competing in last fortnight’s Belmont Guineas with credit, finishing a four-length fifth to Opportunistic. + West On Sidney ($1.36) is a red-hot prospect in The Westcha$e Final (520m) at Cannington after overcoming a chequered passage to land his heat last week.