Forget the recent blip for First Immortal
Co-trainer Levi Kavanagh suggested punters simply forget smart stayer First Immortal’s last run when assessing Saturday’s Listed Mornington Cup.
First Immortal posted an impressive first-up win in Listed company at Caulfield on March 16 but surprisingly missed a placing in the Group 3 Easter Cup (2000m) at the same venue on April 6.
Kavanagh, who trains First Immortal in partnership with his father Mark, said the fouryear-old simply found the wrong part of the track in the Easter Cup.
“We’re just happy to put the pen through the run,” he said.
“He was on the inside and was just in the wrong part of the track. It was a bit wetter in there and they were advantaged coming out a bit wider in the straight.
“He’s done well since so we’re happy to go there (to Mornington) on Saturday.”
First Immortal will step up to 2400m for the first time since the gelding finished on the heels of the placegetters in the Group 3 Geelong Cup last spring. The son of Churchill had an excuse for his Geelong Cup defeat as he struck his head in the barriers before the race.
But First Immortal’s other two runs beyond 2000m resulted in an impressive win under 60kg at Flemington as a three-year-old and an unlucky second after racing wide throughout in the Bart Cummings last October.
“He is only lightly raced at 2400m or further but his form is good over those distances,” Kavanagh said. “He won well at Flemington and ran a great race in the Bart Cummings so we expect he’ll be effective over that trip again.”
The tight Mornington circuit can pose a problem for some gallopers but Kavanagh said First Immortal’s form at Caulfield and The Valley was a sign the gelding would handle his first crack at the course.
The Kavanagh stable will attempt to qualify First Immortal for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the coming weeks. The Mornington Cup offers a Caulfield Cup ballot exemption to the winner while a Melbourne Cup start will be on the line in next month’s Andrew Ramsden (2800m) at Flemington.
Kavanagh said connections would decide First Immortal’s program towards the $500,000 Andrew Ramsden after the Mornington Cup.