Coffs Harbour Tips and Best Bets for August 6

A local will be looking to get on the board early for Coffs Harbour Cup Day in 2020 via this gelding from the strong Brett Dodson camp.

After beginning his career in Victoria, Galway has matured into a nice country horse in NSW with four wins (three on this circuit) from 13 attempts since crossing the border and is starting to prosper into a staying type with a strong victory two starts back in his first try over 2000m.

Following a good freshen-up, he was produced in the $50,000 South Grafton Cup where he was specked late ($10.00-$8.50) and it was excellent run to make the inroads he did after settling off the speed in a leader-dominated race from a wide draw.

The step back up to the ten furlongs suits Galway now and from a far kinder draw of three whilst staying at the same weight of 55kg, he's well placed to bounce back as the best bet on Coffs Harbour Cup day.

The last start South Grafton Cup winner dictated proceedings from the front second-up in a sensational form turnaround following an awful fresh run at Randwick on June 20.

To be fair, that 1200m trip was on the sharp side and he is a galloper that desperately needs to do his own thing up from over a mile or further which goes a long way to explaining some of the big defeats he's had despite having a good strike rate overall.

From barrier four and with gun front-running rider in Adam Hyeronimus engaged, he should get every chance to obtain that early lead and he has nice drop in the weights from that last outing.

Jazzland is open to further improvement arriving only third-up off a good spell and does now have that mile run under the belt, so he should be at close to his peak for his Coffs Harbour Cup tilt.

The Wayne Wilkes stable in Taree scratched this mare from last Saturday's Highway at Randwick, an event that looked rather winnable for her although they perhaps looking to skip a heavy surface fresh.

It's hard to knock the consistency of this daughter of Bel Esprit who's no stranger to a winter first-up run with a third placing recorded in a 2019 Highway behind Irish Songs (2020 Wagga Town Plate winner) and Lady Demi (very consistent Highway performer).

Her form from her most recent campaign warrants serious consideration for this race with a feature country win early in that preparation before a close third in a $150,000 Country Championships Qualifier at Taree.

In a Country level Class 3 and with the benefit of a 2kg claim, Bellastar is well placed first-up where she's a winner over this track and trip and has finished in the trifecta in three of four fresh runs to date.