Favouritism for Hunter Cup hinges on Tuesday barrier draw

29 January 2017 | Cody Winnell
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Lennytheshark and Chris Alford winning the 2016 Victoria Cup.

Lennytheshark and Chris Alford winning the 2016 Victoria Cup.

Tuesday night’s Del-Re National A.G. Hunter Cup barrier draw will go a long way to deciding whether New Zealand’s TAB.com.au Summer of Glory dominance continues.

The first night of the carnival saw the Kiwis take out seven of the 10 races at Tabcorp Park Melton, including all three Derby heats and both Group 1s – the Haras des Trotteurs V.L. Dullard Cup and the Eynesbury Victoria Cup.

Champion horseman Mark Purdon drove five winners and trained four, while his brother Barry Purdon trained two and Kiwi reinsman Zac Butcher also snared a double. Kiwi trainer Sam Smolenski collected the Dullard silverware with Sunny Ruby.

While Mark Purdon’s Smolda heads the market for next Saturday night’s $500,000 Group 1 Hunter Cup at Tabcorp Park Melton, Victorian champion Lennytheshark looks close to his best after a slashing third in the Ballarat Cup to Smolda and Lazarus when he was taking ground off the winner late.

If Lenny draws better than Smolda on Tuesday night the David Aiken-trained 2015 Inter Dominion hero will almost certainly shorten into favourite.

Outside of the top pair it is another Kiwi, Have Faith In Me, that is currently third in the betting. He is not nominated for the Hunter Cup, so would require a change of heart from the All Stars camp.

Hectorjayjay’s connections have all but ruled out a Hunter Cup run after their luckless effort in last night’s Victoria Cup, with the Miracle Mile in Sydney that horse’s major assignment.

Victoria Cup placegetters Major Crocker and Bling It On both remain in the Hunter Cup mix. Bling It On is on the fifth line of betting, while Major Crocker will be desperate for a good barrier draw to utilise his abundance of gate speed if he goes around in the big dance 

Sydneysider Yayas Hot Spot is a smoky worth mentioning.

First emergency for last night’s Victoria Cup, the Shane and Lauren Tritton trained six-year-old won today’s Group 3 Goulburn Cup in impressive fashion.

Yayas Hot Spot has had four runs at Melton – a win in the Our Maestro FFA last July in 1:54.1, a third behind Yankee Rockstar and Hectorjayjay in the 4YO Bonanza of 2015 and a third in the Victoria Derby of 2014 after finishing second in his heat.

Harness Racing Victoria will conduct barrier draws for the Pryde’s Easifeed Great Southern Star, the Del-Re National A.G. Hunter Cup and the VHRSC Victoria Derby at Tuesday night’s function held at the MCG Members Dining Room, which doubles as the annual headline function of the Caduceus Club.

Follow @HRVnews on Twitter for live updates from the night.

 

Media enquiries:

Cody Winnell (HRV Media/Communications Manager)
t: 03 8378 0288 | e: cwinnell@hrv.org.au | tw: @codywinnell

 

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