With the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate Carnival winding up, the Melbourne Cup Carnival takes centre stage at Flemington, as Derby Day kicks of what is undoubtedly the biggest week in Australian Racing. Kellstorm and Tom Melbourne make up our two runners for the day, and will be looking to start what will hopefully be a very successful week for us.
Kellstorm is our first runner and features in the 2500m Group 3 Lexus Stakes at 1:40pm. After a brave effort last start in the Geelong Cup, he now returns to the place where two starts ago, he ran past last year’s Melbourne Cup winner in Almandin to finish 3rd in the Bart Cummings. With rain around in Melbourne, he will undoubtedly be advantaged by the softer surface, as in 9 runs to date on a soft or heavy track, he has finished in the placings on 8 occasions. If he were to win and pull up soundly, he would most likely end up lining up in the Melbourne Cup a few days later, as this race guarantees the winner a start. Ben Allen will ride, carrying 54kg’s and has drawn barrier 9. If Flemington continues to get the rain that is expected, we definitely expect him to be featuring very heavily in finish.
After a campaign littered with close seconds, Tom Melbourne lines up in the 1600m Group 1 Kennedy Mile, with a 4:00pm start time. Tom’s form this spring has been very solid with 4 second place finishes to his name. Last start, he was involved in a frantic speed battle, which resulted in him dropping away in the concluding stages, yet still fought on bravely to finish 6th. While he has been unable to get a win, these runs have been nothing but promising, and indicate Tom is back to his best. After drawing some seriously unlucky barriers this preparation, he now finally gets a good barrier, in barrier 6. Glen Boss will once again ride, and has been allocated 53.5kg’s. While this may not be his grand-final; especially considering his quality performances this spring, he now appears to have every chance of getting a long-awaited win.
Good luck to all connections involved.