CLOSE FINISH LIKELY IN THE BELMONT NEWMARKET. MAIN FANCIES ARE DIFFICULT TO SEPARATE

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, August 5, 2026

It is the turn of the Belmont Newmarket to take centre stage in Western Australia on Saturday and no less than ten of the thirteen runners due to face the starter in Saturday’s big race contested the Listed HG Bolton Sprint when they were last in action.

That race produced a blanket finish with less than a length covering the first five runners across the line, so the chances are another highly competitive finish will be in play.

The Grant and Alana Williams trained Fluro Neuro led that five horse cavalry charge to the line beating the Neville Parnham trained Snowdome by 0.08 lengths with the Rebecca Bayliss trained Final Siren back in third place. Madhi Girl and Immortal Bliss were close up behind that.

The result was a bloodbath for punters with the first three horses past the post coming back at starting prices of $61, $13 and $71 respectively … and that punters headache now carries over to the Belmont Newmarket, with their dilemma being how to assess three horses that ran so well above their market expectations and decide whether one, or all of them, can go on with it.

Or do they go back to the horse that failed to flatter as the $2.40 favourite in the HG Bolton Sprint, forgive that unplaced run of Twisted Steel (he was only run out of it late over the final 150m) and give the Simon Miller trained four-year-old a chance to redeem himself?

There is a lot to consider.

Long price or not, Fluro Neuro’s last start win in the HG Bolton Sprint was full of merit, coming wide on the turn, chasing down many runners in the home straight and hitting the line hard. Snowdome had taken over from the very game frontrunner Final Siren late in the running there, looking the likely winner, before Fluro Neuro cut him down in the final stride. Final Siren never stopped trying … and then there were the fourth and fifth placed runners, Madhi Girl, who finished close-up after being inconvenienced in the home straight, and the second favourite Immortal Bliss, who was running on strongly at the death.

It is hard to fault any of those performances which doesn’t make the selection process any easier.

Neither does the fact that the Belmont Newmarket is run over the same track and distance as the HG Bolton Sprint. Even the weight turnover doesn’t sort too much out with Fluro Neuro picking up a 1.5kg penalty for his win with all of the other runners mentioned staying on the same weight they carried in the HG Bolton Sprint, so they all benefit to the same degree against Fluro Neuro.

And, to throw another curve ball into the mix, the likes of Luana Miss and Repossession are also not out of it.

Confusing … definitely. Intriguing … absolutely.

It should make for a great betting race.