Advance Attack and Gavin Lang will be out to go one better than last year in Monday's Maryborough Cup
Advance Attack will get his chance to atone for a second placing in last year’s Central Goldfields Shire Maryborough Gold Cup when the 2008 edition is run on Monday afternoon.
The Graeme Lang-trained, Gavin Lang-driven seven-year-old is back for another shot at the $20,000 event – the main event of Maryborough’s two-day carnival, which kicks off on Sunday.
Gavin Lang said that even though the entire disappointed in last Sunday’s Kilmore Cup, his previous form on the Victorian Country Cup Carnival warranted another shot at the 2690-metre standing start event.
“His track record in those standing start cup races is very good, so you’d have to give him a chance providing he’s come through the Kilmore race,” Lang said.
“But they’re always tough races to win, the country cups, and it won’t be any different at Maryborough on Monday.”
While he started off the front last year, when beaten 3-3/4 metres by Reba Rajah, Advance Attack has been pulled 10 metres this year.
Since running second last year, the brother of former champion juvenile Courage Under Fire has added the Group 2 Horsham Cup and the Hamilton Cup to his feature-race booty.
Joining him as joint 10-metre backmarkers on Monday are recent Stawell Cup winner Keayang Hanover, last season’s Ararat Cup winner Romeo Castle and another country cup regular, Albert Terrill.
Among those off the front are last year’s Victoria Cup fourth placegetter Ultimate Mark, The Gammalite winner Doolan Jack, Nyah Cup placegetter Yucatchim and classy Kerryn Manning-trained gelding Brooklyn Bute.
Lang concedes Advance Attack will need to improve on his Kilmore run, when he enjoyed a lovely run three back the pegs but dropped out sharply approaching the home turn, but he isn’t putting a turnaround past him.
“The way he’d be going heading into the race, and with the run he’d had, we expected him to be in the finish, but what happened we just don’t know,” Lang said of the winner of 24 races and more than $382,000 in stakes.
“They were just outside the track record, so maybe they went a little bit quick for him, but in saying that he was gone a long way out. But he’s done that before and backed up well, so we’ve just got to hope he can do it again.”
Lang will be chasing a third Maryborough Cup win when the strands release at 4.55pm. He first tasted success in 1981 with Spring Find and claimed another cup 20 years later with Persistency.
Chris Alford is the modern era’s most successful reinsman with four wins, but the man who won most recently aboard Tromos in 2005 isn’t yet confirmed for a drive in this year’s race.
The Central Goldfields Shire Maryborough Cup is race seven on Monday’s nine-event card, which kicks off with the Parkview Bakery C0 Pace at 1.22pm.
