Spring Carnival staying prospect Amelie’s Star earned herself a spot in the 2017 Melbourne Cup with her impressive win in the Group 3 $300,000 The Bart Cummings (2500m) at Flemington today.
Amelie’s Star, above, qualified for the Melbourne Cup with her win in The Bart Cummings at Flemington. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
The winner of The Bart Cummings is exempt from the ballot for the Group 1 $6.25m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington and Amelie’s Star is now a genuine lightweight chance in ‘The Race That Stops A Nation’ on the first Tuesday in November.
Amelie’s Star had only been placed once from her last four starts leading up to The Bart Cummings but the Darren Weir trained mare really appreciated the step up to the 2500m of today’s contest.
Weir said that he will now map out a final program for Amelie’s Star for her run into the Melbourne Cup which the leading Victorian trained won in 2015 with Prince Of Penzance.
“Her record suggest that the step up in trip today was going to be a big plus,” Weir said.
“She has had a beautiful preparation and she will have to run somewhere between now and then. We will just have to map out what we do.”
“She is very sound, she has got lots and lots of miles in her legs so we just need to get things right between now and the Melbourne Cup.”
Amelie’s Star had drawn nicely at barrier two in the ten horse field and Weir said that was a huge advantage going into today’s race.
“Barriers are a big thing in racing. We got the bad barrier last start and had to go back and got into a position where it was just mathematically impossible to win,” Weir said.
“Today from the good draw the plan was to be in the first half and got the best run of any horse in the race and got the result.”
“Barriers play a big part.”
Winning jockey Damian Lane was able to give Amelie’s Star ($4.60) a lovely run from barrier two and the mare finished over the top of her opposition to claim victory over the outsiders Granddukeoftuscany ($91) and Kellstorm ($51).
Last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Almandin laboured to the line under his 60kg to fill fourth spot.
To check out the latest Melbourne Cup 2017 odds on The Bart Cummings winner Amelie’s Star visit Ladbrokes.com.au today.
2017 The Bart Cummings Results & Finishing Order
Flemington Race 7 – 07/10/2017
| Place | # | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Br. | Wgt. | SP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | AMELIE’S STAR | Darren Weir | Damian Lane | = | 2 | 54.5kg | $4.60 |
| 2 | 13 | GRANDDUKEOFTUSCANY (IRE) | Robert Hickmott | Michael Dee | 2L | 1 | 54kg | $91 |
| 3 | 10 | KELLSTORM (IRE) | Darren Weir | Ben Allen (a) | 2.1L | 5 | 54kg | $51 |
| 4 | 1 | ALMANDIN (GER) | Robert Hickmott | Damien Oliver | 3.35L | 9 | 60kg | $2.20F |
| 5 | 3 | HARLEM (GB) | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Dwayne Dunn | 3.85L | 10 | 56.5kg | $4.40 |
| 6 | 11 | YOGI (NZ) | Darren Weir | Dean Yendall | 4.85L | 6 | 54kg | $20 |
| 6 | 2 | TALLY | James Cummings | Hugh Bowman | 4.85L | 3 | 57.5kg | $11 |
| 8 | 8 | VENGEUR MASQUE (IRE) | Michael Moroney | Patrick Moloney | 4.95L | 7 | 54kg | $26 |
| 9 | 7 | PENTATHLON (NZ) | John Wheeler | Jye McNeil | 7.95L | 4 | 54kg | $101 |
| 10 | 6 | KINEMA (IRE) | Chris Waller | Craig Newitt | 42.95L | 8 | 54kg | $71 |
| – | 5 | BROADSIDE (NZ) | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Stephen Baster | – | 0 | – | – |
| – | 12 | SUPER HAZE (IRE) | Tony McEvoy | Luke Currie | – | 0 | – | – |
| – | 9 | CROCODILE ROCK (IRE) | Robert Hickmott | Ben Melham | – | 0 | – | – |
