Oliver to pin hopes on champ
FRESH off his 109th Group 1 success in Saturday’s Australian Guineas, Damien Oliver is eyeing off a 110th when he partners a possibly blinkered Almandin in Saturday’s Australian Cup.
Almandin has won four races in Australia, but all of them at distances of 2400m or further.
The 2016 Melbourne Cup winner failed at his only attempt over the Flemington 2000m at his second Australian start, but did run a close second over 2040m at Moonee Valley first up last spring.
He resumed with a close second to stablemate Homesman over 2000m at Caulfield last month.
“He was a good run first up. It would have been nice if he could have overhauled the stablemate, but Flemington will suit the horse better,” Oliver said on Radio TAB’s Past The Post yesterday.
“He’s getting a little bit older and I think the team might be toying with putting some blinkers on the horse, so it will be interesting to see if they go that way.
“Being at Flemington is really going to help and he’s going to be in there with a terrific chance.”
At 45, Oliver turned in a peerless display from a wide gate on Grunt and said he enjoyed the win just as much as he did winning big races a quarter of a century ago.
“You don’t always get the opportunities I did 10 or 15 years ago but you really do appreciate them when they come along,” he said.
“Obviously I’m in the twilight of my career.” and every big race like that counts.”