Weir to Duke it out in Classic
THE Darren Weir-trained Big Duke will be one of two stayers in the Zipping Classic out to add their name to recent horses who have won the weight-for-age race after contesting the Melbourne Cup.
Big Duke finished fourth in last week’s Melbourne Cup over 3200m at Flemington and drops back to 2400m in the Zipping Classic at Sandown tomorrow.
Big Duke is on the second line of betting at $3.20 behind Almandin ($2.50) and they are the only runners in the eight-horse Classic field coming through the Melbourne Cup.
The winners of seven of the past 10 Zipping Classics have run in the Melbourne Cup.
Weir’s Warrnambool stable foreman Jarrod McLean indicated Victoria’s premier trainer was aware of the recent Zipping Classic history when deciding to start Big Duke.
“Weiry said horses coming back from the Melbourne Cup have a good record in the Zipping Classic, so I think that’s his reason for being there,” McLean said.
Big Duke pulled up well after the Cup.
“He had a quiet gallop on the course proper at Warrnambool yesterday,” he said.
“Obviously there’s no improvement in him but he’ll present well come Saturday.”
Big Duke will wear blinkers in a race for the first time.
“Weiry said ‘work him in them’ and he worked quite well in them so we’ll go with that, just sharpen him up a bit,” McLean said.
He said it was always a query coming back from 3200m to 2400m but said they hadn’t had to do much with the stayer since the Melbourne Cup.
“He has just poked along at the beach and other than his turf gallop yesterday morning he’s just been in the water at the beach,” McLean said.
Big Duke’s seven starts this spring have included a win in the St Leger Stakes (2600m) in Sydney, second in the Group 1 Metropolitan (2400m) and fourths in the Moonee Valley Cup and Melbourne Cup.
UBET spokesman Nick Curry said punters were “working themselves into a lather” over Big Duke.
“As soon as we went up, the sharp money came for him,” Curry said.
“One of the first bets laid was $1300 on him at $3.80 from a very well-credentialed customer and then another smart type chimed in with $1000 at $3.50.”