Only two meetings across the NAR Circuits for Monday, with racing in Mizusawa and Kawasaki.
Here are our best bets across the day.
KAWASAKI RACE 6 - # 3 Da Vinci
Siding with the in-form five-year-old entire #3 Da Vinci in the third at Kawasaki. Recent form has been sound, with top-three finishes in his last four runs. Going up a level this time but has the benefit of the low draw and Wada Joji sticks. Watch for a big finish from him. He should be winning.
KAWASAKI RACE 10- #3 Mikki Hustle
Six-year-old gelding #3 Mikki Hustle has been in sparkling form this time in, unbeaten so far. Loves this track and trip, and with Tsubasa Sasagawa sticking again, he can certainly extend his winning streak.
The Sun fillies will be his main competition today. #1 Sun Also Rise ran a lovely race for a close second last start and draws the rail today, whilst #10 Sun Eau Claire is an honest galloper with seven wins from seventeen starts who scored a half length win over Sun Also Rise last start.
MIZUSAWA RACE 11 - #5 Blue Wizard
This ten-year-old entire showed no signs of slowing down in his old age when resuming from a six-month break with a resounding 2.5 length win at this track over 1400m last time out.
Since a change of trainer mid last year, he has racked up a fantastic string of both placings and wins, not finishing outside of the top-three in his last 8 starts, and there is no reason he can't perform just as well here today.
His main threat comes in the form of #7 Happy Hong Kong , an entire who at five is half his age, and has been steadily working towards a win after being a bridesmaid at his last three runs. Good contest.
MIZUSAWA RACE 12 - #8 Dollars Priceless
Hard to ignore the outstanding 30 length all-the-way win when resuming from this promising four-year-old entire. The three-month break appears to have done him no harm, and with Yuri Takahashi sticking, he can go on with it.
Two handy four-year-old fillies will be his main opposition. #12 Graffias Lady was in fantastic form before going on a break, and since returning with a narrow win over 1300m here, is now live on a hat-trick. #10 Kitto Kuru has dropped back from JRA level and made an impression with a big 4 length win here over 1400m last start.