THE dearth of stayers in Limestone Coast cups at present is reflected in Sunday’s $30,000 Naracoorte cup field.
From an original 13 nominations, the cup field dropped away to just seven runners at acceptance time and the quality of the field shows it will never be regarded as a classic Naracoorte cup field.
The grand old stayer Evenmoreaction is by far the oldest runner (by four years) in the field at eleven years of age and is also clearly the top weight by three kilograms.
This could very well be his swan song as he attempts to win his second Naracoorte cup after saluting in 2013.
The only runner from outside of the region is Billet Doux from the Gordon Richards stable in Adelaide and his current form suggests the baby of the field (at five years of age) will start favourite.
A third at Morphettville in December and two recent fourths on the Morphettville Parks circuit is definitely good enough form to win at his first Naracoorte start and senior Adelaide jockey Joe Bowditch retains the ride.
Naracoorte trainers Sue Murphy and Sue Jaensch will supply three of the seven runners, Murphy having last won the cup in 2016 with Hasta La Thomas which is one of two runners for her on Sunday.
The other is the restricted galloper Athos which ran on strongly from last to be narrowly beaten at Bordertown last Tuesday week in a BM 80 event.
His conqueror on that occasion was the Jaensch trained Costa Lante, very impressive after sitting three wide for almost the entire 2000 metre trip.
It is hard to see any runner that finished behind Costa Lante at Bordertown turning the tables on Sunday and Costa Lante appeals on an each way basis.
If successful, it will give Naracoorte based apprentice Justin Huxtbale his first cup winner in the Limestone Coast and give Jaensch four home town cup wins..
Back in 2008-09, the smart performer Lady Avacan won the cup for Jaensch, followed up by the outsider Tonto’s Pride in 2014.
Apart from Evenmoreaction, trainer Michael O’Leary is also represented with Autumn Sunset, fourth in the Coonawarra Cup last month and stepping up to 2000 metres for the first time.
Naracoorte Racing Club president Bill Vine also doubles as the track manager and he is confident the track will be in excellent condition following constant watering in recent weeks.
“It is rated a Soft 5 today and by Sunday we will comfortably race on a Good 4 surface” Vine stated yesterday.
Murphy eyes quinella in small handicap field
HORSES trained on the track invariably produce their best and, over the years, Naracoorte has proven to be a classic example of that.
A small but select field will contest the BM 80 handicap, already down to five runners after the early scratching of Normandy Lad.
Murphy could quite easily quinella the race with her two runners – Barood and Bianmagic – and the former looms as the one to beat.
Barood has not raced for six weeks, but his three efforts in December suggest he will take tossing at, what is rather surprisingly, his first start at Naracoorte.
Following a second to Save Me Ned in the Volcano Handicap here at Mount Gambier on December 4, Barood then ran second at Morphettville followed by a last start fifth at the same venue.
Paul Gatt had that last ride and he is again in the saddle on Sunday on one of his rare trips to the South East.
At his best, the top weight Tildy Lad would win this race with plenty to spare, but the seven year old gelding has been injury prone for the past couple of years.
He resumed with an ordinary fifth at Gawler in late December, then won a trial at Bordertown last week by 12 lengths and ran nearly three seconds quicker than the other trial.
Bianmagic is a winner of six races at Naracoorte (from 12 starts) and the six year old is renown for getting back in his races and then rattling home.
Whether he can give this field a start is questionable, while the Jamie Opperman trained Rhythmatic is stepping up in class from winning a BM 72 handicap at Bordertown last week.
The only one possibly without a winning hope is Diamond Duke, yet to win first up, but he does come from the Paul Preusker stable who invariably wins races when they cross the border from Horsham.
Back in class
SOME of the runners in the 2000 metre BM 60 handicap would have been highly competitive in the Naracoorte cup field.
Winning races at Naracoorte is rare for the Stawell stable of Terry and Karina O’Sullivan, but Lachie’s A Star looks well placed to do so on Sunday.
His past three starts have all been in open company country cups (Nhill, Koroit & Great Western) and his best return was a second to Vianden in the Nhill cup and that stayer has since gone on to win two other country Victoria cups since.
It will be Lachie’s A Star first look at Naracoorte, and experienced jockey Justin Potter will need his expertise to give the gelding a good run from barrier eight.
The Jaensch trained Cheners has been in work for a fair while, but a reproduction of his third in the Mount Gambier cup back in December will make him mighty hard to beat.
Shooshkabob has been ultra consistent of late without winning and could run into the placings again.
