LUNANA MISS HOLDS FAVOURITISM IN A CONGESTED BETTING MARKET FOR THE BEAUFINE STAKES

By Graham Potter | Thursday, July 9, 2026

It is a congested betting market for the Listed Beaufine Stakes at Belmont on Saturday, a race which will be contested over the 1000m trip.

No less than four runners are quoted within a point of each other as they dispute favouritism, and the fact that point difference comes in at the $5.50 to 6.50 mark underlines just how open a race it is.

Two of the runners involved both last competed in the $5 million Quokka on April 18.

Close to a two month respite should see both Luana Miss, who currently holds favouritism by a nose at $5.50, and Oscar’s Fortune (currently quoted at $6.50) come into the race ready to fire with both having enjoyed a freshen-up.

The Trevor Andrews trained Luana Miss finished unplaced three lengths behind Jigsaw in the Quokka. The three-year-old boats a healthy race record of four wins from eight career starts … wins which included successes in the Listed Supremacy Stakes and the Listed Placid Arc Stakes.

While she did finish unplaced in the Group 1 Winterbottom, she did come home only 2.30 lengths behind the likes of Libertad and Overpass, who went on to tackle Royal Ascot, so that result ranks in the positive column for Luana Miss.

Oscar’s Fortune, for his part, finished right alongside Luana Miss in the Quokka … the notable point being that he carried 4kg more there than Luana Miss. They also clashed in the Winterbottom where Oscar’s Fortune beat Luana Miss by 0.40 lengths … both were unplaced … in a race where Oscar’s Fortune carried no less than 7kg more than his rival.

And the weight scale for the Beaufine asks Oscar’s Fortune to do that all over again, this time giving Luana Miss a whopping 8kg advantage at the weights.

While Oscar’s Fortune has shown he can remain competitive at that weight difference, it is still a tough ask for any horse. On the plus side, he is unbeaten in two starts at the track.

Patrick Carbery will ride Oscar’s Fortune while Steven Parham will take the reins aboard Luana Miss.

Madhi Girl and Twisted Steel, two Simon Miller trained runners, are the other two runners vying for favouritism.

Both are at $6 and, like Oscar’s Fortune and Luana Miss both come into the race first-up, but from different trajectories.

Madhi Girl has not raced since Janaury 24 when finishing fourth in the Scenic Blast Stakes over 1200m. She did put a string of four successive wins together from July 19, 2025 to January 1, 2026, all with Willie Pike in the irons, so the chestnut daughter of Winning Rupert can be a hard horse to stop when caught in a galloping mood, a mood she seems to find best on soft going, a surface on which she has won four out of five starts. Saturday’s Belmont track is currently rate as a Soft 5.

Madhi Girl is two from two at Belmont.

Twisted Steel will come into Saturday’s race looking for a hat trick of wins after winning a Three-Year-Old Plate over 1100m and following up with a feature race win in the Listed Magic Millions WA Three-year-Old Trophy over 1200m at Pinjarra on February 14, the last time he saw race action.

As the betting suggests, it is hard to separate any of these runners.

The punters favourite, Willie Pike, who rode four winners at Belmont on Wednesday, will ride the Madhi Girl. Clint Johnston-Porter, who was in the saddle in both of the Twisted Street’s last two wins, will again ride the son of Rommel.