PLAYING IT SWEET COULD BE THE VALUE BET IN THE LISTED JUNGLE MIST CLASSIC AT ASCOT

By Graham Potter | Thursday, November 12, 2026

The Adam Durrant trained Playing It Sweet, currently a $6.50 chance, could provide some value for punters when she contests the Listed Jungle Mist Classic over 1200m at Ascot on Saturday.

The daughter of Playing God rounded off her last preparation with notable, successive wins in the WA Breeders’ Classic over 1200m (beating the talented second placed Talkanco by 0.22 lengths) and the Challenge Stakes over 1500m … both Listed races.

She then continued in feature race company when resuming as a four-year-old, posting a third place finish in the Listed Crawford Stakes over 1200m, when coming home less than a length behind Hot And High … and a fifth place finish behind the same winner in the Group 3 Asian Beau, when again close-up enough, finishing just 1.36 lengths back.

The Asian Beau result was the first time Playing It Sweet had finished out of the first three places in fourteen starts, seven of which she has come back the winner to hold an impressive fifty percent winning strike rate.

That all augers well for Saturday where she will jump from a prefect draw with Lucy Fiore in the saddle.

Another horse with telling feature race form to recommend her chances is the Belmont Oaks and Belmont Classic winner, the Grant and Alana Williams trained Ladies Pro, who will make her much anticipated first appearance as a four-year-old when she steps out in the Jungle Mist Classic on Saturday.

The Jungle Mist Classic distance of 1200m is way short of the 2000m of the Belmont Oaks and the 2200m of the Belmont Classic … distances over which the daughter of D'Argento clearly thrived, but a look at Ladies Pro’s first-up record (she resumes here after just under a four month layoff) shows that she has a perfect first-up record of two wins from two first-up outings … and those wins came over 1000m and 1200m!

Fresh, and ready to blow the cobwebs away, her class could well overcome any of the question marks surrounding the race distance or her match fitness, but she nevertheless still has a bit to overcome … rival-wise … as this is no easy assignment.

The four-year-old mare Cinque Stelle is the short-priced race favourite following a hot run of form which will see her looking to stretch her current unbeaten streak to five wins on Saturday.

The Steele Casey trained daughter of Toronado was a clearcut 2.28 length winner in a RTG 72+ race over 1200m at Ascot last time out and she will present rock hard fit having raced on four occasions since late July for four wins over distances ranging from 1100m to1600m.

Willie Pike, who was in the saddle for three of those four wins, takes the ride.

The Daniel Morton trained In Confidence, a winner of half of his eight starts, will be second-up after finishing third behind Cinque Stelle over 1200m last time. She has 2.50 lengths to make up on Cinque Stelle on that run, and she has a 1kg favourable turnaround at the weights with Casey trained runner to help her cause.

And the list of genuine contenders does not end there.

Cessation and Zourun Run also squeeze into that category. The former finished second in the $1 million Golden Saddle and fourth in the Listed Crawford Stakes while Zourun Run is a five-time winner who has saluted in three of her last five starts, albeit in lesser company. She looks to have scope for further improvement.