Melbourne Cup plan mapped out for Ladies First
A Melbourne Cup (3200m) programme for Ladies First has been announced by trainer Allan Sharrock.
Five lead-up races are planned to have the Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m) winner at her peak for the Flemington two-miler.
“She’ll run in an open sprint at Otaki and then the open mile race on the same day as the Makfi,” Sharrock said.
“Safely through that, it will be the open 2000m at Hastings and then I think she’ll be competitive in the Livamol Classic. All going well, it will be the Moonee Valley Cup and straight into the Melbourne Cup.”
Sharrock said Ladies First was coming up well, although he didn’t expect her to show form until she got to 2000m.
Rogerson praises apprentice
Graeme Rogerson believes apprentice Ryan Elliot’s career can go to another level next season.
“He’s very under-rated and hopefully come the spring he will ride his first Group One winner, he’ll be on some very good horses for the stable,” he said.
Elliot also showed his versatility at Te Aroha on Wednesday when he won the Patron Paddy’s Hurdle (3100m) on the stable runner Suffice To Say.
“He’s fearless and this one and Commander are the only jumpers he rides, all credit to him,” Rogerson said.
Elliot said he was mainly riding over hurdles to qualify for highweight mounts.
Jumping suiting Banbury Lad
Banbury Lad has made an instant impact in his new role.
The five-time winner on the flat made a successful jumping debut at Te Aroha on Wednesday with a dashing front-running victory in The Dentist Morrinsville Hurdle (3100m).
“He’s showed plenty of promise and he’s a big, bold jumper,” trainer Rudy Liefting said.
“He’s a bit of a thinker and I’ve been hoping hurdling would keep him entertained and it looks like it has.”
Sea King shooting for three in a row
Outstanding Wanganui jumper Sea King will attempt to complete a hat-trick of Mosstrooper Steeplechase (3600m) victories at Bendigo on Sunday.
The rising 13-year-old has been sent to Australia by trainer Kevin Myers for his fifth consecutive winter campaign and joined Patrick Payne’s Victorian stable last week.
“It’s great to see him back here and to me he feels exactly the same to what he has in the past years,” Payne said. “He’s an unbelievable horse.”
Sea King’s winning run in Australia began in 2014 when he took the Lafferty Hurdle (3200m) and Grand National Hurdle (4500m). He returned in 2015 to win the Mosstrooper Steeplechase, a race he again won in 2016 along with a Thackeray Steeplechase (3450m).
Last year, he was back to the hurdles and managed to win the Dreschler Hurdles (3600m) at Bendigo.
Another jumper from the Myers stable is making his Australian debut for Payne on Sunday.
The six-year-old Zentangle, who has won 11 races, will run in the Dreschler Hurdles.
“He’s a pretty good horse that has got ability all around,” Payne said. “They are targeting the Grand National Hurdle if he measures up.”
Stakes boosts in New South Wales
Racing New South Wales has announced minimum prize-money for Saturday metropolitan races will increase by A$25,000 to A$125,000.
“We are delighted to be able to deliver these significant increases across all three sectors coinciding with the start of the spring,” Racing NSW chairman Russell Balding said.
The increases will take effect from September 1, with prize-money to increase by more than A$24 million annually.
Meanwhile, the world’s richest country race will be held on Everest Day at Randwick with a new A$1.3 million race – The Kosciuszko.
The race will be restricted to only New South Wales country-trained horses.