Wicklow Brave Firms In Cup Betting

Tuesday, 13 September 2016 20:04

Bookmakers betting on the Melbourne Cup are not the only ones impressed by the Irish St Leger win of Wicklow Brave.

Greg Carpenter, head of handicapping at Racing Victoria, announced on Tuesday he had allocated the Willie Mullins-trained stayer 55kg for November's Melbourne Cup at Flemington after his win over odds-on favourite Order Of St George at The Curragh on Sunday.

The weight is 2.5kg more than Carpenter handed the stayer in the Caulfield Cup when he released weights for that race two weeks ago.

Leigh Jordon, RV's recruitment officer, said Mullins had already placed Wicklow Brave in quarantine for a trip to Melbourne.

Before his Irish St Leger success Wicklow Brave was at $81 in Cup betting but had his price slashed to $15 favouritism after his weight was announced.

Wicklow Brave will be the fourth horse Mullins has sent to Melbourne for the Cup.

Holy Orders finish 17th in 2003, Simenon fourth in 2013 and Max Dynamite second to Prince Of Penzance last year.

"Wicklow Brave is locked away," Jordon said.

"He'll be out here early like Max Dynamite was last year. That's the way Willie likes to do things."

Order Of St George and 2014 Cup winner Protectionist share equal topweight of 58kg for the $6.2 million race.

But the pair face a 66-year hoodoo to win the race.

The last original Cup topweight to win was Comic Court in 1950 with 59.5kg.

"The handicap presents a challenge to both Order Of St George and Protectionist, however they have earned the position at the head of the weights based on their performances over the past 12 months," Carpenter said.

Last year's winner Prince Of Penzance rises 3.5kg on 2015 to 56.5kg.

The 3.5kg rise is the same given to Americain (2011) and Dunaden (2012) following their respective Cup victories.

Victoria Derby winner Tarzino and Australian Derby winner Tavago are the highest rated four-year-olds with 54kg, with VRC Oaks winner Jameka guaranteed a start with 51.5kg.

Preferment, a four-time Group One winner, has won the most number of races at the highest level of the 123 horses nominated and with 56.5kg shares the second highest weight with Prince Of Penzance.

Should Order Of St George and Protectionist not run, weights will rise a minimum of 0.5kg to obtain a 57kg minimum topweight under Australian rules of racing.

VRC Oaks Hope Just Victoria To Make Debut

Tuesday, 13 September 2016 20:04

Lawyer-turned-horse trainer Cheryl Roberts is used to working with Chris Waller's superstars but now she might have a Group One contender of her own.

Just Victoria will make her debut in a 1400m maiden handicap at Warwick Farm on Wednesday and Roberts hopes she can go all the way to VRC Oaks at Flemington on November 3.

The filly was a $30,000 yearling selected by her husband, prominent vet Tim Roberts, who focuses on type when choosing horses.

Roberts has three horses in work under her name and pre-trains a further 40 for Waller at the couple's Boynton Park farm on the NSW south coast.

Waller-trained stars including Zoustar, Boban, Hawkspur and champion mare Winx have spent time at the property.

"We had Winx as a two-year-old before she had won a race," Roberts said.

"They start off, I get them going nicely and then they go off to bigger pastures.

"Having said that, I'd rather not have the responsibility once they turn into super Group horses."

Waller's wife Stephanie is a part-owner of Just Victoria and also has a share in the Roberts-trained Divajeu who ran in last year's Gimcrack Stakes.

"We've had a long-standing relationship with Chris since he started off with six horses," Roberts said.

"He's very kindly given me some support as well and Stephanie's come on board."

Roberts has had a handful of runners since taking her licence out almost two years ago.

She trained Chuchoter to wins at Benalla and Goulburn last year and intends to maintain a small but high-quality team led by Just Victoria.

"If she's not good enough for the Victorian Oaks then she's not good enough for me," Roberts said.

"I don't have time to potter around in the provincials because I'm just so busy working on Chris's main horses."

While Just Victoria is an unknown quantity ahead of her debut the trainer has high hopes for the Magic Albert filly.

"I've put a lot of groundwork into her," Roberts said.

"She's had quite a few months to get fit. She's hard and she's ready to go, I just hope she's fast enough."

Roberts' journey to training horses started in the 1970s when she and her husband moved to South Africa.

There she combined running his vet practice with working with thoroughbreds.

"I did quite a bit of pre-training over there and I subsequently found out it's in my blood," Roberts said.

"I come from a long line of horse people."

After they returned to Australia she studied law and worked in a leading Sydney firm before returning to her true passion.

"I'm back doing what I always loved doing - and I hate paperwork," Roberts said.

Winx Gives Hugh Bowman Confidence

Monday, 12 September 2016 08:39

As a jockey Hugh Bowman copes with pressure on a daily basis but he admits to an added responsibility when it comes to riding Winx.

The champion mare runs in her first Group One race of the new season in Saturday's George Main Stakes (1600m) at Randwick.

Just six horses were entered on Monday to run against Winx including two of her Chris Waller-trained stablemates, Spiritjim and Vanbrugh and former Japanese horse Tosen Stardom.

"To get a headline act and to be a part of it, it comes with a great deal of responsibility," Bowman said.

"But I have so much confidence in her.

"She is easy to ride. She puts herself where she needs to be."

The George Main will be Winx's last spring appearance in Sydney after which she heads to Melbourne for the Caulfield Stakes and her defence of the Cox Plate.

Although Bowman and Waller have had many Group One wins separately and together, the Cox Plate was the first of the established big four for jockey or trainer.

"The Cox Plate is the best race in Australia," Bowman said.

"The Golden Slipper is for two-year-olds and the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups are handicaps.

"But the Cox Plate is weight-for-age over 2000 metres. It was humbling to win it last year and I'm as excited as anyone leading into it this year."

Hauraki and It's Somewhat will represent Godolphin in the George Main while the Kris Lees-trained Randwick Guineas winner Le Romain is other nomination.

Lees has also entered Le Romain in the Bill Ritchie Hcp (1400m) and will wait until later in the week to decide which races he runs in.

Winx missed a scheduled start in the Chelmsford Stakes last Saturday week and had a hit-out in a barrier trial on Friday.

"I'm glad we gave her the trial," Waller said.

"It's just like a pre-match training session and she is right where she needs to be."

Indicative of her superstar status, Winx is at $1.15 in opening markets with Tosen Stardom next at $10.

King Remembers Champion Mare Let's Elope

Monday, 12 September 2016 08:39

The spring carnival of 1991 is one jockey Steven King will never forget, thanks to deeds of Let's Elope.

The Caulfield and Melbourne Cups winner has died at the age of 29 and King has paid tribute to the champion mare.

"It's sad, because she was such an important part of my career," King said.

Jockey Steven King

"She did everything I could possibly ask of her.

"You just look at it and go, `you don't find those sorts of horses'."

Let's Elope was Australia's champion racehorse for the 1991/92 season, winning seven consecutive feature races in the care of the late Bart Cummings.

King was aboard for six of those wins including the Caulfield Cup, Mackinnon Stakes and Melbourne Cup.

"When I first laid eyes on her I was 21 and I was booked to ride her in the Turnbull Stakes," he said.

"She obviously won the Turnbull and went on and won the Caulfield Cup and won the Melbourne Cup on my 22nd birthday.

"So it happened very quickly. You look back now and I was quite young myself, so I was lucky enough to be on such a great mare and all I had to do was steer her - she did the rest."

Let's Elope won 11 of her 26 starts during a career that started in New Zealand and finished in America.

As a broodmare, she produced eight named foals with six to race, all of them winners.

They included Group Two winner Ustinov and Adelaide Cup winner Outback Joe.

Last year's Bart Cummings Quality winner Let's Make Adeal is a grand-daughter.

Lauriston Park's Chris and Kathie Bakker said Let's Elope died peacefully in her sleep lying underneath a gum tree in her favourite paddock on Monday night at the farm where she had been a nanny in her final years.

King said he was especially pleased he had taken his three sons - 21-year-old Jordan, 18-year-old Lachie, and 16-year-old Ben - to visit Let's Elope at the Euroa property last year.

"I took the boys out there and gave her a pat, and I'm glad the boys went out there and saw her," he said.

"It's like anything. You don't really appreciate those sorts of things until later on in life.

"The fact they were able to pat her and know that their father won a Melbourne Cup on her, I think is important."

Trainer Nigel Blackiston was foreman for Cummings during the Let's Elope era and has had success with descendants of the mare including Outback Joe and Let's Make Adeal.

"It was a privilege to be involved in Let's Elope's career," Blackiston tweeted.