With the $500,000 Victorian Country Cups Series Final at Caulfield just over a month away, the road to qualification continues this weekend with feature meetings at Hamilton and Manangatang tomorrow (Saturday, 12 October) and Seymour on Sunday, 13 October.
Anticipation is building for tomorrow’s $30,000 Nutrien Ag Manangatang Cup (2000m), the Club’s only meeting of the year which is expected to attract a crowd of over 2,000 to the small town that is home to just 250 residents.
Trainer Dane Smith is looking to make it back-to-back victories in the cup with his veteran stayer, Boss Coni, who aims to make his 65th start a winning one. Boss Coni has already collected one point in the series after finishing third in the DMD Nhill Cup (1650m) last December.
Following an impressive performance in last week’s Moama Bowling Club Gunbower Gold Cup (1800m), Echuca trainer Gwenda Johnstone will be hoping her five-year-old gelding Cadazio can replicate that effort on Saturday, aiming for consecutive country cup victories and a spot in the top 10 on the Victorian Country Cups Series leaderboard.
Trainer Andrew Bobbin is set for an action-packed half an hour on Saturday, with runners in both cups. Pulveriser, the only other horse alongside Cadazio entering the race with winning form, will race first before Bobbin’s five-year-old gelding Off His Roca runs at Hamilton.
Off His Roca will need to turn the tables on Victorian Country Horse of the Year finalist Picaroon, who beat him home in their last clash in the Ecycle Murtoa Cup (2050m) last weekend. The Tom Dabernig-trained mare is vying for her third country cup of the season, with wins already in the 2024 Foodworks Casterton Cup (2000m) and bet365 Apsley Cup (2000m) in May and June respectively.
Picaroon (12 points) currently sits fifth on the Series leaderboard and will look to make up some ground on leader Station One (19 points), who defeated her by a nose last start at Murtoa.
South Australian trainer Ricky Bruhn is searching for his first Victorian country cup victory of the series, with his gelding Goliotus returning from a fourth-place finish in the bet365 Coleraine Cup (1800m) at the end of last month.
Leading Victorian trainer Ciaron Maher will have a hand in two weekend cups, fielding Commander Harry at Hamilton and Earl Of Tyrone at Seymour. After winning the Seymour Cup last year with Junipal, Maher is hopeful of securing consecutive victories with UK import Earl Of Tyrone, who will make his Australian debut on Sunday after a lengthy racetrack absence.
The bet365 Seymour Cup (1600m) promises to be highly competitive, featuring a strong field that consists of several Group 2-winning horses. A move of the race one week earlier than its traditional spring timeslot has paid dividends with a full field of 14 plus four emergencies accepting.
The training partnership of Annabel Neasham and Rob Archibald will launch a two-pronged attack with top-weight Jimi Hendrix, carrying 58kg, and Group 2-winning mare Hell Hath No Fury.
Additionally, Ben, Will & JD Hayes, the leading country trainers in Victoria, will present their talented Group 2-winning mare Caste. Another contender of note is New Zealand import Antrim Coast, who will make his stable debut for new trainer Steve Richards having previously won the Group 2 Alister Clark Stakes (2040m) when he was under the care of Kiwi horseman Stephen Marsh.
The Nutrien AG Manangatang Cup (Race 6) will be run at 4:14pm tomorrow, followed by the bet365 Hamilton Cup (Race 7) at 4:46pm. The following day, all eyes will be on Seymour with the Cup set to run at 4:55pm (Race 9).
With 13 country cups still to come in the Series, the opportunity remains for a number of horses to work their way into the final field of 16 starters for next month’s lucrative 2000m final on Schweppes Caulfield Thousand Day (Saturday, 16 November).
The winners of each country cup collect five points in the series, with two points awarded to the runner-up and third place receiving one point.
To view the current Victorian Country Cups Series leaderboard, please click here.
Following the Manangatang, Hamilton and Seymour Cups, the next qualifying races will be the Ladbrokes Moe Cup (Friday, 18 October), Blue Pyrenees Estate Avoca Cup (Saturday, 19 October) and the Millers Horsham Cup (Sunday, 20 October).