Emerging stayer Magnapal will take his place in the Caulfield Cup after gaining automatic entry with his win in the Group 3 $150,000 Bendigo Bank East Malvern MRC Foundation Cup (2000m) at Caulfield today.

The entry conditions for the Group 1 $3m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 17 gives the winner of the Foundation Cup, formerly known as the Naturalism Stakes, an exemption from the ballot but he is still eligible for the a penalty.

Co-trainers Terry and Katrina O’Sullivan have Magnapal racing in career best form with today’s victory the Magnus six year old’s third on the trot this campaign.

Today’s winning rider Luke Currie was also aboard Magnapal when he won a 1400m mid-week BenchMark 90 Handicap at Sandown and again when the pair won the Listed $120,000 Sheen Group Heatherlie Stakes (1700m) at Caulfield on August 29.

Currie settled Magnapal ($5) just better than midfield and was able to negotiate a path through the field in the straight to claim a narrow victory over the favourite The United States ($4.60) by a head with $20 chance Genuine Lad a half a length away in third spot.

O’Sullivan was very excited to have a runner in the Caulfield Cup and will give Magnapal one more led up run in the Group 3 $200,000 JRA Cup (2040m) at Moonee Valley on October 2.

“It did work out perfectly. Luke said before the race that he didn’t want to get trapped on the fence, he thought the fence was not the right place to be today,” Terry O’Sullivan said.

“He hoped to be one out, one back, but he said if the pace is genuine, one pair back wouldn’t worry him and that’s exactly how the race turned out, how he planned it.”

“He is a tough horse. He fought hard at Sandown when he won and the other day when he beat Robert’s mare here he turned the corner. He really has a good will to win, the horse, he is going great.”

Runner up The United States lost no admirers after he was held up for a run in the straight but found the line strongly when he got a little bit of galloping room to run a close second.

Third placegetter Genuine Lad raced on the pace and stuck on solidly in the straight to run himself back into form.

Foundation Cup results

Finish	No.	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Bar.	Weight	Starting Price
1	15	MAGNAPAL	Terry & Karina O’Sullivan	Luke Currie	–	5	54kg	$5
2	17e	THE UNITED STATES (IRE)	Robert Hickmott	Damian Lane	0.2L	9	54kg	$4.60F
3	16	GENUINE LAD	Robert Smerdon	Craig Williams	0.7L	15	54kg	$20
4	13	BOLD SNIPER (GB)	David Hayes & Tom Dabernig	Chris Parnham	1.1L	8	54kg	$20
5	14	KAPOUR (IRE)	Ciaron Maher	Damien Oliver	1.3L	16	54kg (cd 54.5kg)	$8.50
6	5	ALMOONQITH (USA)	David Hayes & Tom Dabernig	Michael Walker	1.7L	14	55.5kg	$17
7	3	TAIYOO	Darren Weir	Brad Rawiller	1.8L	1	57kg	$9
8	11	LET’S MAKE ADEAL	Nigel Blackiston	Patrick Moloney (a)	2.1L	6	54kg	$13
9	1	OUR IVANHOWE (GER)	Lee & Anthony Freedman	Ben Melham	2.4L	12	60kg	$12
10	7	PRINCE CHERI (FR)	David Vandyke	Craig Newitt	3.15L	3	54.5kg	$14
11	4	HAWKSPUR	Chris Waller	Mark Zahra	4.9L	10	56.5kg	$15
12	9	LA AMISTAD	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	James Winks	5.65L	7	54kg	$61
13	10	CAFE SOCIETY (FR)	Gai Waterhouse	Stephen Baster	5.75L	11	54kg	$26
14	18e	ETHIOPIA	Pat Carey	Darren Gauci	7.5L	4	54kg	$101
15	8	SONNTAG	Henry Dwyer	Michael Dee (a)	8.5L	2	54.5kg	$71
16	12	LIKE A CAROUSEL	Ken Keys	Ms Michelle Payne	9L	13	54kg	$101