Wez Hunter’s Group 1 winning sprinter Smokin’ Joey is a late entry for Saturday’s Bletchingly Stakes 2015 bringing the number of nominations for the season’s last black-type up to 15.

Smokin’ Joey is a late 2015 Bletchingly Stakes entry for Caulfield Racecourse on Saturday. Photo: Daniel Costello.

Running at Melbourne’s Caulfield Racecourse, the weight-for-age $150,000 Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) originally had only 11 entries.

Racing Victoria extended nominations until Tuesday morning and the connections of four more horses made an entry for their gallopers, including Mornington’s Hunter with rising eight-year-old Smokin’ Joey.

The Encosta De Lago seven-year-old is best known for his upset win in last year’s Group 1 The Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville as a 40/1 outsider.

Since then the gallant warhorse has been competitive in a number of other Group 1 races around the country including his second to Suavito in the Futurity Stakes over 1400m at Caulfield in late February.

His latest run was in Queensland at Ipswich Racecourse in mid-June when winning the Listed Eye Liner Stakes (1350m) on the back of a Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) eighth to Ciaron Maher’s subsequent Tatt’s Tiara winning mare Srikandi in Brisbane.

Hunter could now shoot for back-to-back late season wins with the $1.4 million earner after putting him in the Bletchingly Stakes mix late, Smokin’ Joey (106) one of only two nominees with a rating over 100 along with Lord Of The Sky (105).

The Robbie Laing-trained Danerich stallion Lord Of The Sky ran fourth in the Bletchingly last year, but has since run second in two Group 1 features in Sydney and Adelaide.

The four-year-old was last seen crossing a disappointing seventh to Miss Promiscuity in the Group 3 Sir John Monash Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield at the start of the month as the short-priced favourite, an effort he’ll be out to atone for this weekend.

The other late Bletchingly Stakes nominations taken on Tuesday morning were the Danny O’Brien-trained six-year-old Decircles, Petrify, the nicely bred Macedon Lodge entry Wales and the John O’Shea-trained Redoute’s Choice four-year-old Sanzio.

Also in the line-up of original nominees are the likes of Sandown Guineas winner Petrology for David Hayes & Tom Dabernig and the Peter Moody-trained mare Angels Beach coming off a second in the Monash Stakes.

See below for the updated 2015 Bletchingly Stakes nominations, the final field and barrier draw for the weekend’s Group race feature due for release on Wednesday morning.

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Updated 2015 Bletchingly Stakes Nominations

Caulfield Racecourse – 25/07/2015