Cummings Clears Fiveandahalfstar For BMW
- Tuesday, 24 March 2015 07:22
Anthony Cummings has confirmed a BMW start for Fiveandahalfstar after the 2013 winner galloped at Randwick on Tuesday morning.
Cummings also entered Fiveandahalfstar for the Neville Sellwood Stakes but he saw enough merit in the five-year-old's work on the Keningston track to chase another Group One weight-for-age win.
"The way he came through the gallop suggests he's ready to go to the BMW distance," Cummings said.
Cummings expects a 2400m test to provide the fitness base he is looking when Fiveandahalfstar drops back in distance to run in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick on April 11.
After beating Silent Achiever in the 2013 BMW, Fiveandahalfstar was sidelined with injury until returning to racing last month.
He has finished worse than midfield in three autumn carnival runs but Cummings says there were encouraging signs out of the horse's last-start sixth to Hartnell in the Sky High Stakes.
Cummings will reunite Damien Oliver with Fiveandahalfstar for the first time since the leading Melbourne jockey won 2012 Victoria Derby on the stayer.
Oliver couldn't ride Fiveandahalfstar in the 2013 BMW because he was serving a 10-month ban for betting.
But the rider is no stranger to BMW success, having ridden Blutigeroo (2007) and Cedarberg (2011) to wins at double-figure odds.
