Champ ready for a big year
DANNY O’Brien will trade on Vow And Declare’s strengths — extraordinary aerobic capacity and a proven affinity with Flemington — as the young stayer embarks on a history-chasing campaign.
Responsible for thwarting a formidable international challenge in last year’s Melbourne Cup, Vow And Declare will run in Saturday week’s Group 1 Australian Cup at Flemington as the stepping stone to a sixmonth campaign.
“He’s ready to kick off,” O’Brien said.
He said the team was originally going to wait until the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick in five weeks’ time, but given that the Australian Cup was on his home track, “it would be nice to get a run under his belt before he got on the road. He’s had a good base. He’s ready to run”.
Vow and Declare will attempt to join an elite group of gallopers to have won the Melbourne and Australian Cups, a group that includes Makybe Diva, Saintly and Let’s Elope.
O’Brien will again use a long, measured program to season Vow And Declare for his Cup defence on November 3, with a return to Queensland for up to three races in the mix.
“He’ll run here in the Australian Cup and his last run will be the (2020) Melbourne Cup, so he’ll have about six runs before the Melbourne Cup,” O’Brien said.
“After the Australian Cup and Queen Elizabeth, he’ll then go up to Queensland for the Doomben Cup and the new weight-for-age race they’ve got, which is the Q22.
“And then potentially defend the Tatts Cup from last year, and then he’d be back to run in either the Turnbull or the Caulfield Cup on his way to the Melbourne Cup.”
O’Brien started Vow And Declare three times in Queensland last year for a Tatts Cup win and Queensland Derby second.
The gelding has maintained impressive condition over the summer at O’Brien’s Thirteenth Beach property.
“He certainly enjoys the beach over summer, it keeps him in good shape for when he comes back to the races,” O’Brien said.
“He’s run at Flemington three times for two wins and a third and he just loves the track. He trialled here last week (over 1200m) from the 2000m mark and he was very happy to get back on the track.”