Thunder Point ridden by Dean Yendall wins the Emmetts Warracknabeal Cup at Warracknabeal Racecourse on March 30, 2024. (Photo by Jay Town/Racing Photos)
This weekend marks the final opportunity for horses to secure a place in the $500,000 Victorian Country Cups Series Final (2000m) on Schweppes Caulfield Thousand Day (Saturday, 16 November), with only two qualifying races remaining in the series.
The $40,000 Community Bank Ballan & District Ballan Cup (1518m) at Ladbrokes Geelong tomorrow (Saturday, 9 November) and the $80,000 bet365 Ararat Gold Cup (2200m) on Sunday (10 November) will be the last chances for horses to earn points and make a late surge up the Victorian Country Cups Series leaderboard.
This year’s Emmetts Warracknabeal Cup (1600m) winner Thunder Point (Symon Wilde) will be looking to add another five points to his tally in tomorrow’s feature, which would see him rise from his current position of 29th on the leaderboard into the all-important top 16.
The seven-year-old gelding will have to beat home nine rivals including the Ben, Will and JD Hayes-trained Conqueror, with the team from Lindsay Park looking for back-to-back victories in the Ballan Cup after Independent Road’s win in 2023.
The action then moves to Ararat with several horses looking to improve on their recent form with a field of 13 assembled for Sunday’s Cup.
Lottaroc (David Noonan) will be looking to better his last-start performance in the Millers Horsham Cup (2100m), where he placed third late last month. That earned him his first point in the series, however the maximum five points for a victory could see an 11th hour ascent into final contention.
Verona (Archie Alexander) is another horse who will be striving to improve, after a fourth-place finish in the bet365 Mortlake Cup (2000m) last week and a sixth position in the Ecycle Solutions Murtoa Cup (2050m) early last month.
Pittsburgh Pirate (Henry Dwyer) was victorious at his last start, winning the Weir’s IGA + Liquor St Arnaud Cup (2000m) and climbing to 34th place on the leaderboard. Another win this weekend could see the five-year-old gelding secure a place in the field for the lucrative final.
The Victorian Country Cups Final is a Benchmark 100 Handicap featuring a field of 16 starters (plus four emergencies) with a minimum topweight of 62kg at the declaration of weights. The winner will receive $275,000, with prizemoney paid down to 10th place.
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. In the event of a dead-heat, the points are not shared with each horse receiving the full quota for first, second or third. Any horse that has competed in the selected 55 Country Cup series is eligible to nominate and accept for the final, subject to balloting and available places in the field.
To view the current Victorian Country Cups Series leaderboard, please click here.