Rating expert Daniel O’Sullivan has To The World on top of his 2015 The BMW tips, but he is not particularly keen to back the talented Japanese galloper at his current odds for the Group 1 event at Rosehill Gardens tomorrow.
Punters believe that Hartnell is the main danger to To The World in the 2015 The BMW. Photo by: Steve Hart
To The World will be making his Australian racing debut in The BMW and he has been backed from $2.70 into $2.20 since the 2015 The BMW field was released earlier in the week.
The King Kamehameha entire stamped himself as one of the most promising horses in the world when he beat the likes of Gold Ship, Just A Way and Epiphaneia to win the Group 1 The Arima Kinen (2500m) in Japan at the end of last year and O’Sullivan told RSN that the four-year-old will be extremely tough to beat if he can reproduce that effort, but he feels that $2.20 is a slightly too short a quote for a horse that will be racing outside of Japan for the first time in his career.
“That was a very strong race last start and he did start 30/1, but the performance was definitely there and the price was a mark of just how strong the race was.
“There is no doubt that he is a serious horse when you try to line up the international ratings and I had a conversation with Dominic Beirne about this horse and he made an interesting point in that a lot of the Japanese runners we have seen coming here to Australia have actually even over performed against their international ratings, so to some extent those international ratings are not keeping up with how good they are when they go and compete in our jurisdictions.
“I think that aspect combined with the performance out of that last start race and his overall record means that he deserves to be a clear-cut favourite.
“If he turns up and runs like he did in that strong race last time then he is an odds-on chance in this race, but that is an optimistic view and I think that the market has probably found his right price.
“I don’t think that you want to be on anything to beat him and I think it will be just a great race to watch to see if he can bring his best game here and if he doesn’t what we are going to see from the other horses.
“I am happy to sit back and watch, I don’t want to bet against him, but I don’t want to charge it at that price.”
To The World is currently available at 2015 The BMW odds of $2.20 and is a clear favourite from Hartnell ($3.70), Lucia Valentina ($8.50), Protectionist ($9) and Silent Achiever ($13).
