Benalla Cup winner Lord Fandango could tackle Melbourne Cup
THERE may be bigger fish to fry this spring for Archie Alexander and Lord Fandango after the four-year-old took out the Benalla Gold Cup on Friday.
Sitting in the middle of the field for the majority of the run, Jordan Childs took the horse into clear air around the 400m mark and the horse obliged, pegging back leading pair Moonovermanhattan ($2.10 at WilliamHill.com.au) and Electric Fusion ($2.80 at Sportsbet.com.au) in the shadows of the post to return $6.80 at Ladbrokes.com.au.
The win was a powerful one for Lord Fandango, and the trainer said it was nice to see the form lines hold up for the talented galloper.
“You love to see after a good first-up run to see them finish off like this,” Alexander said.
“His last prep he went from a mile to 2000m… so we are hoping he can go on to win something nice over the spring.”
Despite getting out and hitting the line strongly, Alexander was not certain it ran a race that perfectly suited the $100,000 feature.
“He actually needs a nice, long straight and here’s not ideal for him in that respect,” the Ballarat trainer said.
“Today it was just okay for him but in the future he’ll need a bigger sort of track.”
Jordan Childs agreed that the horse has a bright future, stating Lord Fandango is “going places”.
“He’s done it quite easily today,” Childs said.
“I think he’s going to just keep going through his grades quite nicely.
“Once I got clear room today I was pretty confident.”
This might not be the last time we see Lord Fandango in a cup race this spring.
Alexander said he has always had a “high opinion” of Lord Fandango, but was not sure the four-year-old was ready for the big group ones just yet.
But the horse is dual-nominated for both the Melbourne Cup and the Caulfield Cup – where the horse is currently a $401 outsider for both features at Ladbrokes.
“The thing is he’s only a young horse with very limited miles on the clock,” the trainer explained.
“We’re just going to need to look after him and he’ll come good.
“He’s nominated in the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup so that would have to be a realistic aim, but whether or not he gets there this year or next year we’ll have to wait and see.”