Cambridge team can strike again
AFTER Jon Snow’s win on Friday night at Moonee Valley Cambridge trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman are hopeful Bonneval can keep the stable’s Australian strike rate going today at Caulfield.
Dual Oaks winner Bonneval remains the best supported New Zealand-trained Cups entry and the last-start Group II Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m) winner continues her buildup in the Group I Underwood Stakes (1800m).
Baker has won the Underwood on three previous occasions and while he would like to win another he knows it won’t be easy against the likes of Hartnell and Black Heart Bart.
‘‘She’s very well the mare. She’s going great,’’ Baker said. ‘‘She’s still on the up. We’ll find out a bit more up against those horses but you’ve just got to front up.
‘‘Hartnell, he’s a very good horse and will give us a good guide where we are at going into the races we have in mind .’’
Sunday’s race will lead in to the Group I A$1 million Caulfield Stakes (2000m) on October 14, a week before the Group I A$3 million Caulfield Cup (2400m), with the Group I A$6.5 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington 17 days after that
Hugh Bowman is aboard in the Underwood for the first time since her Group I Australian Oaks win.
Moonee Valley on Friday night gave Baker and Forsman a major boost and some confidence going into the major Cups.
The Caulfield Stakes is looming as a big race for the stable with Bonneval, Jon Snow and Lizzie L’Amour likely to clash.
Jon Snow’s win in the Group III JRA Cup (2040m) was the perfect start to the stable’s big weekend while Lizzie L’Amour showed she will shine when tested beyond the 1600m of the Stock Stakes.
‘‘Jon Snow was back to handicap racing and he had to give a lot of weight away. Up in distance was the difference though,’’ Baker said.
‘‘He’ll go to the Caulfield Stakes with Baster aboard and then on to the Caulfield Cup.’’
Lizzie L’Amour sits further down the Caulfield Cup entry order and will likely need to win her next start in the Caulfield Stakes to jump up the order and secure a start.
‘‘She’s been going all right. She had that fibrillation but trialled at Flemington and everything was fine,’’ Baker said.
‘‘She was dead stiff on Friday night with a slow one in front and nowhere to go. Bowman thought he would have been right in it with the right run. Vince Caligiuri
‘‘She’s going to have to do things right to get in the Cups but there are plenty of suitable races for her at this carnival at distances she likes but we’d love to get in the Cups.
‘‘She’s a good mare who just needs some luck.’’
During the week Baker was ‘‘very happy’’ with 3-year-old Weather With You’s fourth in the Victoria Derby Trial (1800m) at Flemington.
‘‘He went a good race,’’ Baker said. ‘‘He covered a bit of ground and the the three that beat him were all on his inside the whole race.
‘‘He bolted through that run, he’s a nice relaxed horse and he’ll run in the UCI next weekend.’’
The Listed UCI Stakes (1800m) is for 3-year-olds and run at Flemington.
‘‘We have to keep pushing forward to try and earn enough stakes to get into the Derby,’’ he said.
The A$1.5 million Victoria Derby (2500m) is run at Flemington on November 4. KIWI jockey Michael Dee has won his first Group I in a setting that every young hoop in Australasia dreams of.
The Melbourne-based New Zealander won his first race at Royal Randwick but more importantly his first Group I success in Saturday’s Metropolitan Handicap (2400m).
Dee rode the Robert Hickmotttrained Foundry to victory in the colours of the most successful owner in Melbourne Cup history Lloyd Williams.
The iconic race with a $815,000 stake will deliver a sizeable financial boost for Dee but more importantly it vindicated the decision of team Williams to put him on the lightweight contender.
Foundry carried just 50.5kg to victory and with few jockeys able to make that weight, Dee’s Metropolitan success will likely open up more opportunities in the ultracompetitive Sydney ranks.
Dee delivered a peach of a ride aboard the lightly raced eightyear-old son of Galileo to win by half a length over Broadside with a further one and a quarter lengths back to Chocante.
Early in the Randwick straight, promising Kiwi stayer Chocante looked to be a serious winning chance but that quickly changed when Dee sent Foundry for home.
Foundry’s victory moved him in from $201 to $51 for the Caulfield Cup and from $201 to $26 in the Melbourne Cup market.
Trained by Stephen Marsh at Cambridge, Chocante is nominated for both the Melbourne and Caulfield Cups and Saturday’s performance might be enough to earn a trip to Melbourne.
Ridden by Corey Brown, the five-year-old son of Shocking sat outside most of the way leader Broadside.
The Kiwi owned Who Shot Thebarman, trained by Chris Waller, was just behind in fourth.
Who Shot Thebarman, by the now-deceased Yamanin Vital, combined with Broadside, by Raise the Flag, gave Otago’s White Robe Lodge claim to second and fourth placings in the Metropolitan.
One race earlier, race favourite Happy Clapper clocked a race record when winning the Group I A$1 million Epsom Handicap (1600m). The victory was the first Group I for veteran Randwick trainer Pat Webster.
Former Kiwis Sound Proposition and Savile Row finished back in fifth and ninth place respectively.
‘ Hartnell, he's a very good horse and will give us a good guide.’ MURRAY BAKER