Horse Racing

Punters are eagerly counting down the days until the iconic Sydney Boxing Day Races take place this Monday, December 26, the meeting running at Rosehill Gardens this year with the 2011 Summer Cup the headline attraction.

The Peter Snowden-trained Yulalona is one of 15 2011 Summer Cup nominations

Nominations for the $125,000 Group 3 Summer Cup (2400m) were taken on Tuesday with 15 stayers entered for the event.

As expected Chris Waller’s former French-trained import Permit is among the Summer Cup 2011 nominations after breaking their Aussie maiden at Warwick Farm last weekend.

Waller came close to Summer Cup success 12 months ago when Strike One ran second to Queensland raider Spechenka.

The now seven-year-old Danehill Dancer gelding has been nominated by Waller again to give the Summer Cup a second shot despite Strike One finishing a distant 21.5 lengths off the winner Sea Galleon in the Listed Christmas Cup (2400m) at Rosehill back on December 10.

A known wet-tracker, Strike One showed there was nothing amiss and that they just weren’t suited to the Dead rated track after they won a 1030 metre open Rosehill barrier trial on a Slow course this morning.

Strike One all but guaranteed their Summer Cup acceptance with the successful trial, but Waller will await the weights allocation on Wednesday before confirming Permit for the feature.

“We are light on for the Summer Cup,” Waller said earlier this week.

“Strike One will have to trial well to go to the race while Permit needs a fair weight if he is to run.”

The horse that ran second to Permit in the Schweppes Handicap (2200m) at Warwick Farm last weekend, Tim Martin’s Zabeel seven-year-old Scouting Wide has also been nominated to back up in the Summer Cup on Monday.

Jim Cassidy has been confirmed as the Summer Cup jockey for Scouting Wide, who is set to enjoy a nice drop back in weights from the 61.5kg they carried last start.

Other notable Summer Cup hopes this year include Christmas Cup runner-up Nextanix and third placegetter Count Encosta, Bart Cummings’ last-start Kembla Grange winner Pegembak, the David Payne-trained four-year-old Winning Glory, Peter Snowden’s recent Frank Underwood Cup runner-up Yulalona and Warrnambool galloper Full Peal out for their sixth win on the trot.

Summer Cup 2011 weights are due out on Wednesday while the final field will be released on Thursday.

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2011 Summer Cup Nominations