This Saturday Caulfield Racecourse will host a quartet of Listed features, one of which is the Mornington Cup Prelude 2013 for horses heading towards the $200,000 Listed Mornignton Cup (2400m) on February 13.
The $120,000 Listed Prelude is run over 2000m and will run as Race 5 at 3:25pm as the last of the four consecutive black type features on the Caulfield race card.
Twelve horses are accepted to face off with the Mathew Ellerton & Simon Zahra-trained Lucky Eighty Eight to carry the 60kg top-weight, the veteran Lucky Owners seven-year-old looking to improve on a distant eighth at Flemington from January 19.
Following Lucky Eighty Eight in the Mornington Cup Prelude weights are then Buxted (59.5kg) from the Mornington stables of Sam Pritchard-Gordon, Cranbourne galloper Boom ‘N’ Zoom (59kg) who will be ridden by Craig Williams after a good first-up third over the mile at Flemington last month, and the Dan O’Sullivan-trained Tuscan Fire.
Glen Boss’s mount Tuscan Fire, drawn nicely in gate five, is in flying for coming off back-to-back wins at Flemington and will be out to make it three straight on Saturday having taken out the Byron Moore Handicap (2000m) on New Year’s Day before a similarly smart victory this time defeating Crafty Cruiser by 1.5 over 2500m on January 12.
There are then two other last-start champs in the mix with the Robbie Laing-trained Hussonet four-year-old Rock Musician who won over 1600m at Morphettville on Australia Day last Saturday, and Colin & Cindy Alderson’s last-start Cranbourne winner Leonardo Express who are drawn well in gates four and two respectively.
Other notable Mornington Cup Prelude 2013 hopes then include the Peter Moody-trained duo of Elusive King and White Universe, and Pat Carey’s in-form Helenus four-year-old Durnford drawn in the far outside gate.
Check out the table below for the full 2013 National Jockeys’ Trust Mornington Cup Prelude field, jockeys, barriers and weights then head to bookmaker.com.au to back a winner at the best prices this weekend and all throughout the Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival.
2013 Mornington Cup Prelude Final Field & Barrier Draw
Caulfield Race 5 – 3:25pm (AEST) – 02/02/2013
| # | Form (Last 10) | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Br. | Wgt. | Hcp. Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x70469x048 | LUCKY EIGHTY EIGHT | Mathew Ellerton & Simon Zahra | – | 7 | 60kg | 94 |
| 2 | 56x35176x9 | BUXTED (IRE) | Sam Pritchard-Gordon | Craig Newitt | 6 | 59.5kg | 93 |
| 3 | x9000x67x3 | BOOM ’N’ ZOOM | Ken Keys | Craig Williams | 9 | 59kg | 92 |
| 4 | 134×372211 | TUSCAN FIRE | Dan O’Sullivan | Glen Boss | 5 | 59kg | 92 |
| 5 | 02354170×0 | MONTGOMERY (NZ) | Colin & Cindy Alderson | – | 11 | 57.5kg | 89 |
| 6 | 6770×80332 | ELUSIVE KING | Peter G Moody | Brad Rawiller | 8 | 56.5kg | 87 |
| 7 | 21113×8337 | WHITE UNIVERSE | Peter G Moody | Luke Nolen | 3 | 56.5kg | 87 |
| 8 | 4313×09594 | WESTSOUTHWEST (NZ) | Robert Smerdon | Dwayne Dunn | 1 | 55.5kg | 85 |
| 9 | 49665×8374 | SCOTTISH BORDER | Jason Warren | Vlad Duric | 10 | 54kg | 80 |
| 10 | 226122×861 | ROCK MUSICIAN | Robbie Laing | Nicholas Hall | 4 | 54kg | 78 |
| 11 | 587322×161 | LEONARDO EXPRESS | Colin & Cindy Alderson | – | 2 | 54kg | 74 |
| 12 | 7x2026x012 | DURNFORD | Pat Carey | – | 12 | 54kg | 62 |
