You Tee targets cup double
THE top five placegetters in the Hobart Cup look set to lock horns again in next week’s Group 3 Ladbrokes Launceston Cup over 2400 metres.
Hobart Cup winner Double You Tee is sure to chase the $100,000 Ladbrokes Cups Double bonus, while Hobart Cup minor placegetters Classic Weiwei and Barade are among the 13 Launceston Cup nominations.
The cups double bonus is offered to the connections of any horse that can win both major cups in the same season with $50,000 for the trainer and the other half shared by the horse’s owners.
Double You Tee’s trainer Patrick Payne is confident his talented stayer is ready for the challenge and Classic Weiwei’s co-trainer Tony McEvoy yesterday confirmed his five-year-old will definitely contest the race, while Archie Alexander has indicated Barade will line up and Sydney-based jockey Brendon Avdulla has been booked to ride the imported French stayer.
McEvoy said he had planned to make the trip to Tasmania on Sunday to inspect yearlings that will go under the hammer at the Tasmanian Magic Millions Yearling Sale next Sunday and stay on for the Cup.
But the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in Victoria has forced him to curtail those plans.
“I’ve heard the lockdown in Victoria is going to be eased from midnight Wedaccept
nesday but I can’t take the risk of travelling to Tasmania in case there is another lockdown put in place,” McEvoy said. “I have to get to Tassie via Melbourne, so if they call another snap lockdown in Melbourne or the Tasmanian Government insists on a
quarantine or self isolation, then I can’t afford to be away from my business for 14 days in a quarantine situation.”
Another major consideration for the two upcoming feature race meetings in Tasmania on Sunday and next Wednesday is interstate jockeys.
Most interstate riders who are expected to ride at the Tasmanian Oaks-day meeting on Sunday and the cup meeting next Wednesday hail from Victoria.
If jockeys coming from Melbourne are going to be expected to self-isolate when they land in Tasmania, then it is fair to say they won’t make the trip for either meeting and interstate trainers will, in turn, not final
for the feature races.
Meanwhile, last season’s top Tasmanian three-yearold Still a Star will have a track gallop between races at Sunday’s oaks-day meeting in Launceston and he will be accompanied by trainer Bill Ryan’s Launceston Cup contender Sh’bourne Renegade.
Still a Star is in contention to secure a berth in the $5 AllStar Mile at Moonee Valley next month and connections are on tenterhooks awaiting the outcome of the public voting process that will determine her fate.
When voting was closed to the public on Friday Still a Star was in ninth place with only the top 10 in voting ensured a berth in the richest race over 1600m in the world.
The top 10 will be announced on Friday morning.