And now Preferment is gone, meaning all weights will go up 1kg (topweight must be 57kg).

Arab Dawn was scratched. Qewy won and gained a 0.5kg penalty. Grey Lion was only 0.2L back and Oceanographer 3rd @ 1L. That is, the three remaining Cup hopefuls in the field took out the trifecta, which paid up to $75.20.

There's all sorts of rumours about which runners are dropping out of the race. Monday is time for nominees to pay the second declaration fee, so it should be mostly all cleared up by then.

In the meantime we have on Oct 22nd:

• COX PLATE: the winner gets a ballot exemption and 2nd or 3rd pass the first ballot clause.
  
  Features: Hartnell (9th in Order of Entry),
  
  
  
• MOONEE VALLEY GOLD CUP: 1st-3rd pass the first ballot clause.
  
  Features: Gallante (17th), Grand Marshall (16th), Who Shot Thebarman (10th), Excess Knowledge (24th), Master Zephyr (not passed first ballot clause), The Bandit (not passed first ballot clause), Pentathlon (32nd), Second Wave (not passed first ballot clause), White Dollar Sign (not passed first ballot clause)

All runners can increase their prizemoney (which adjusts their position amongst horses with the same weight).

Yep, half-a-kilo penalty for import Qewy for winning the Geelong Cup
Yep, moves him up to 31st in the order of entry
And would you believe most of his recent form has been over the fences

Simenon was 4th in 2013 and much of his preceding season was over hurdles. Max Dynamite, 2nd last year, was predominately in jumps races leading into the Cup. 2016's Wicklow Brave did a few last year also. Seems to be becoming a bit of a trend...

qewy looked quite good

Came 2nd by 8 lengths. But it's unfair to compare the performance with that of Winx.... Though he was 10.4L behind Winx in this race last year, so perhaps he's gotten better! I expect the form in this race will be hard to match up and handicappers may instead look back to Hartnell's run in the Turnbull Stakes (where Hartnell beat Jameka by 3 lengths)



Grand Marshall 1st, narrowly ahead of Who Shot Thebarman in 2nd. Then a bit of a gap to Pentathlon. The horses that needed to place (Master Zephyr, The Bandit, Second Wave and White Dollar Sign), didn't (8th, 6th, 9th and 5th respectively). Excess Knowledge was 4th. Gallante was 7th.

The second declaration fee is due on Monday and I daresay there will be a fair few that will be dropping out. Acceptances for the Group 3 2400m Bendigo Cup will also be released.

Tuesday 1 November, 2016 - 1st Acceptances


No Horse Trainer Order of Entry Weight
1 Prince Of Penzance (NZ) Darren Weir 2 56.5
2 Preferment (NZ) Chris Waller 3 56.5
3 Big Orange (GB) Michael Bell 4 56
4 Our Ivanhowe (Ger) Lee & Anthony Freedman 5 56
5 Curren Mirotic (Jpn) Osamu Hirata 6 55.5
6 The United States (Ire) Robert Hickmott 8 55.5
7 Hartnell (GB) John O'Shea 9 55
8 Who Shot Thebarman (NZ) Chris Waller 11 55
9 Wicklow Brave (GB) William Mullins 12 55
10 Bondi Beach (Ire) Aidan O'Brien 13 55
11 Exosphere (GB) Lee & Anthony Freedman 14 55
12 Scottish (Ire) Charlie Appleby 15 54.5
13 Tarzino (NZ) Mick Price 7 54
14 Grand Marshal (GB) Chris Waller 17 53.5
15 Gallante (Ire) Robert Hickmott 18 53.5
16 Almoonqith (USA) David & B Hayes & T Dabernig 19 53.5
17 Tosen Stardom (Jpn) Darren Weir 37 53.5
18 Sir John Hawkwood (Ire) John P Thompson 21 53
19 Heartbreak City (Fr) Tony Martin 22 53
20 Tally John O'Shea 16 52.5
21 Excess Knowledge (GB) Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott 25 52.5
22 Jameka Ciaron Maher 10 52
23 Real Love Darren Weir 20 52
24 Howard Be Thy Name Darren Weir 23 51.5
25 Beautiful Romance (GB) Saeed Bin Suroor 24 51.5
26 Set Square Ciaron Maher 38 51.5
27 Almandin (Ger) Robert Hickmott 1 51
28 Sacred Master (NZ) Chris Waller 28 51
29 Secret Number (GB) Saeed Bin Suroor 29 51
30 Grey Lion (Ire) Matt Cumani 30 51
31 Pentathlon (NZ) John Wheeler 31 50.5
32 Fanatic (NZ) Graeme Sanders 26 50
33 Zanteca (NZ) Darren Weir 27 50
34 Antonio Giuseppe (NZ) Chris Waller 32 50
35 Rose Of Virginia (NZ) Lee & Shannon Hope 33 50
36 Aloft (Ire) Robert Hickmott 34 50
37 Manndawi (Fr) Darren Weir 35 50
38 Arab Dawn (GB) John O'Shea 36 50
39 Assign (Ire) Robert Hickmott =39 50
40 Dandy Gent Terry & Karina O'Sullivan =39 50
41 De Little Engine Danny O'Brien =39 50
42 Foundry (Ire) Robert Hickmott =39 50
43 Francis Of Assisi (Ire) Charlie Appleby =39 50
44 Master Zephyr (GB) Darren Weir =39 50
45 Oceanographer (GB) Charlie Appleby =39 50
46 Pemberley (NZ) Ciaron Maher =39 50
47 Qewy (Ire) Charlie Appleby =39 50
48 Second Wave (Ire) Charlie Appleby =39 50
49 The Bandit (Jpn) John Sadler =39 50
50 Tom Melbourne (Ire) Lee & Anthony Freedman =39 50
51 Vengeur Masque (Ire) Michael Moroney =39 50
52 White Dollar Sign John Thom =39 50

Kiwi Sacred Master worth a look
Won Newcastle Cup & fourth in the Metropolitan
Ran third in the Auckland Cup where he fought on well

Another kiwi worth a look,,Rose of Virginia,,ran second in the Auckland Cup
She finished the race off nice & strong
Unplaced two starts in Oz over unsuitable journeys

And let’s not forget kiwi Who Shot Thebarman
Having another go
Ran 3rd two years ago,,11th last year but not suited by the slow pace & checked at the 150m,,should have finished closer
No spring chicken but worth a look

Hartnell, won Queen's Vase 3219m, 4th Sydney Cup 3200m, 15th 2015 Melbourne Cup, jock said pace was just too slow, couldn’t make up ground
Jameka, Caulfied Cup winner, also won Oaks 2500m, on pace should keep out of trouble
Bondi Beach, 2nd St Leger 2917m, 1st Vintage Crop 2816m, lightly raced & good strike rate
Almandin, winner Harry White Classic 2400m & The Bart Cummings 2500m, another lightly raced & good strike rate