Almandin Among 2017 Australian Cup Nominations

January 24, 2017

Almandin Among 2017 Australian Cup Nominations

The Lloyd Williams-owned Melbourne Cup winner Almandin is one of the headline horses among the Australian Cup 2017 nominations that closed this week for the Flemington ‘Super Saturday’ event.

Almandin

Melbourne Cup winner Almandin heads the 2017 Australian Cup nominations for Flemington’s Super Saturday this March. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

Racing Victoria took early entries for the Australian Guineas on March 4 as well as the Newmarket Handicap and $1.5 million Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) taking place the following Saturday on March 11.

The Australian Cup nominations drew 61 entries, up from 55 at this stage last season.

Melbourne Cup winner Almandin and last season’s Caulfield Cup winning mare Jameka both feature in the entries for the Australian Cup.

“We’re really pleased with the quality and depth of entry for the three feature races that closed today,” Racing Victoria (RV) Executive General Manager – Racing, Greg Carpenter, said.

“As it stands there is the possibility that we could see the Cox Plate, Melbourne and Caulfield Cup champions, among a host of other G1 winners from 2016, squaring off in one of the strongest Australian Cups we have seen in some time.”

Robert Hickmott’s German import Almandin won the ‘race that stops a nation’ as a $10 shot in Melbourne Cup betting last November giving him a two-from-three record at the Flemington track.

Hickmott won the Australian Cup back in 2010 with Zipping and will look to take it out again seven years on with Almandin one of nine nominees for the stable.

Other key Hickmott-trained, Williams-owned Australian Cup hopefuls include Herbert Power Stakes winner Assign, former French-trained galloper Bondi Beach and The United States.

Galileo stallion The United States won Rosehill’s Ranvet Stakes before his second in the $4 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes in Sydney last autumn, but from five Flemington starts he has just the one second place finish.

2017 Australian Cup Nominations – Key Horses

  • Almandin (Robert Hickmott)
  • The United States (Robert Hickmott)
  • Jameka (Ciaron Maher)

Caulfield’s Ciaron Maher prepares the reigning Caulfield Cup winner Jameka who will be out to be the first mare to win the Australian Cup since the mighty Makybe Diva (2005) over a decade ago.

Myboycharlie four-year-old Jameka is a dual Group 1 winner having also won Flemington’s Crown Oaks as a three-year-old back in 2015.

She failed to run out a strong two miles when 15th to Almandin in the Melbourne Cup last start, but over the shorter Australian Cup distance boasts an excellent record of two wins, a second and a third from four runs.

2017 Australian Cup Nominations – Key Trainers

  • Lindsay Park (13)
  • Robert Hickmott (9)
  • Ciaron Maher (6)
  • Chris Waller (5)

Maher boasts a total of six Australian Cup nominees with Jameka joined by the likes of lightly-raced Sandown Guineas runner-up Ruthven and the 2015 Doomben Cup winner Pornichet.

Last year’s Australian Cup winner was the Chris Waller-trained Preferment (2016) who won on protest over first-past-the-post Awesome Rock.

Preferment is back looking to take out the title again, the Zabeel stallion not having won again since his Group 1 The BMW (2400m) success at Rosehill last March.

Waller has nominated for five horses in total including his superstar mare Winx who will instead be saved for a Sydney run in the $4 million Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) during April’s ‘The Championships’.

Awesome Rock is another standout Australian Cup nominee this autumn looking to atone for his protest loss last season.

Leon & Troy Corstens’ Fastnet Rock stallion was last seen posting an upset win in the Group 1 Emirates Stakes (2000m) during the Melbourne Cup Carnival over Hauraki as a $19 shot.

Other top entries include the Lindsay Park-trained colt Seaburge who is one of 13 entries for the stable and English import Exospheric for Team Freedman – third in the Caulfield Cup last October – who both look to be exciting Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival feature horses to consider a bet on.

Check out the full Australian Cup 2017 nominations below, first acceptances for the weight-for-age race closing February 21, with markets open shortly at Ladbrokes.com.au – home of Odds Boost (T&Cs apply).

2017 Australian Cup Nominations

Flemington Racecourse – 11/04/2017

# Form (Last 10) Horse Sex Age Trainer
1 111x ABBEY MARIE M 4 Michael Kent
2 21x665111x ALMANDIN (GER) G 7 Robert Hickmott
3 65x808462x ALMOONQITH (USA) H 7 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
4 12x1x7x39x ALOFT (IRE) G 5 Robert Hickmott
5 13x850202x AMBIENCE M 4 John O’Shea
6 46x511112x ANTONIO GIUSEPPE (NZ) G 4 Chris Waller
7 1153x9210x ASSIGN (IRE) G 6 Robert Hickmott
8 20x015551x AWESOME ROCK H 5 Leon & Troy Corstens
9 222x302x0x BIG MEMORY (FR) G 7 Tony McEvoy
10 20x11x330x BONDI BEACH (IRE) G 5 Robert Hickmott
11 9x44x31115 BOOM TIME H 5 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
12 3423414x DARABAD (FR) H 4 Robbie Laing
13 6706116×11 ECUADOR (NZ) G 7 Gai Waterhouse
14 22x3915x0x ENDLESS DRAMA (IRE) H 5 Chris Waller
15 2x9065227x ETYMOLOGY G 4 John O’Shea
16 13x183538x EXOSPHERIC (GB) H 5 Lee & Anthony Freedman
17 526126x83x EXTRA ZERO G 10 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
18 127×532110 FLYING LIGHT G 4 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
19 1x3x FOUNDATION (IRE) G 4 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
20 9x031x270x GALLANTE (IRE) G 6 Robert Hickmott
21 x1837x820x GREY LION (IRE) H 5 Matt Cumani
22 2117x8x00x HANS HOLBEIN (GB) G 5 Robert Hickmott
23 611x92384x HARLEM (GB) H 5 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
24 x5x211123x HARTNELL (GB) G 6 John O’Shea
25 x400x9128x HAZZABEEL (NZ) G 6 Ciaron Maher
26 8x7323590x HE OR SHE G 6 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
27 1211x1110x HE’S OUR ROKKII (NZ) G 4 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
28 201x31129x HUMIDOR (NZ) G 4 Darren Weir
29 1653x4313x IT’S SOMEWHAT (USA) G 6 John O’Shea
30 24x471210x JAMEKA M 4 Ciaron Maher
31 21330x KACHING C 3 Ciaron Maher
32 0x06Fx4431 KOURKAM (FR) G 7 Tony McEvoy
33 x1610x703x MOURINHO G 9 Peter Gelagotis
34 10x42x513x OUR CENTURY (IRE) G 6 Robert Hickmott
35 12x451008x PALENTINO H 4 Darren Weir
36 1x2252911x PILOTE D’ESSAI (GB) G 5 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
37 63849x080x PORNICHET (FR) H 6 Ciaron Maher
38 4110x4540x PREFERMENT (NZ) H 5 Chris Waller
39 114x27156x REAL LOVE M 6 Darren Weir
40 40x274088x RISING ROMANCE (NZ) M 6 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
41 1211x1380x RISQUE (NZ) M 4 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
42 112x RUTHVEN C 3 Ciaron Maher
43 10x3744x1x SAVVY NATURE (NZ) G 6 Gai Waterhouse
44 16x454282x SEABURGE C 3 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
45 x8xD21x00x SIGNOFF (IRE) G 7 Patrick F Ryan Jnr
46 11270x SILVERA C 3 Tony McEvoy
47 2x145x227x SINGING (FR) H 7 Kris Lees
48 x23114407x SIR ISAAC NEWTON (GB) G 5 Robert Hickmott
49 13x81x SKY KINGDOM (IRE) H 4 Garry Newham
50 6x1141x SNITZSON C 3 David & B Hayes & T Dabernig
51 033×850211 STRATUM STAR H 5 Darren Weir
52 113x02303x TALLY G 4 John O’Shea
53 5212x6145x THE UNITED STATES (IRE) H 7 Robert Hickmott
54 11x3307x THROSSELL G 3 Ciaron Maher
55 10x266223x TOM MELBOURNE (IRE) G 6 Lee & Anthony Freedman
56 0x51709x4x TOSEN STARDOM (JPN) H 6 Darren Weir
57 9x9623864x TRANSFER ALLOWANCE G 7 Peter Roche
58 1x4160x88x TURN ME LOOSE (NZ) H 5 Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman
59 145x52482x VENGEUR MASQUE (IRE) G 5 Michael Moroney
60 4x6527255x WHO SHOT THEBARMAN (NZ) G 8 Chris Waller
61 1111x1111x WINX M 5 Chris Waller

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