2010 Victoria Derby Field – Melbourne Cup Carnival Day 1

This Saturday the ultimate racing action of the 2010 Melbourne Cup Carnival will kick off at Flemington with Victoria Derby Day and the marquee race at the meeting, the 2010 Victoria Derby, has drawn a capacity field.

The $1.5 million Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) final field features 16 three-year-olds plus four emergencies with Jim Conlan’s Rekindled Interest and the Peter Snowden-trained Retrieve the top two acceptors set to start as the favourites.

Redoute’s Choice gelding Rekindled Interest burst into Victoria Derby contention with a brilliant win in the Group 2 AAMI Vase (2040m) at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate Day last Saturday.

The AAMI Vase is considered the premier indicator for the Victoria Derby and on Saturday Rekindled Interest will attempt to join the likes of Efficient (2006), Plastered (2004) and Helenus (2002) by winning the AAMI Vase / Victoria Derby double.

Meanwhile Retrieve has also emerged as a top Victoria Derby contender coming off some brilliant spring form including a win in the Gloaming Stakes (1800m), second place finish in the Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) and a last-start victory in the Norman Robinson Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield.

The last horse to win the Norman Robinson / Victoria Derby double was Amalfi in 2001 and jockey Kerrin McEvoy, recently returning to racing following injury, will be aboard Retrieve as he attempts the double on Saturday.

AAMI Vase runner-up Lion Tamer, a smart Kiwi colt trained by Murray and Bjorn Baker, is another exciting acceptor for the 2010 Victoria Derby.

Other notable horses in the Victoria Derby field for Saturday include:

The Lee Freedman-trained Smokin’ Joey who will run with the addition of a tongue tie after choking in the AAMI Vase
David Payne’s consistent colt Praecido well positioned to finish in the money having placed third in their past two Group starts
Duelled gelding Shootoff vying for their second career win
Norman Robinson Stakes’ runner-up Almindoro and third placegetter Digital Fortress

The 2010 Victoria Derby barrier draw will take place at midday today and published moments later here at Races.com.au.

In the meantime, get ready to lock in your favourite three-year-olds in a Victoria Derby Trifecta at a brilliant price by signing up with Luxbet now!

2010 AAMI Victoria Derby Final Field

#	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Weight (kg)	Handicapper Rating
1	RETRIEVE	Peter Snowden	Kerrin McEvoy	55.5	96
2	REKINDLED INTEREST	Jim Conlan	Dwayne Dunn	55.5	96
3	LION TAMER (NZ)	Murray & Bjorn Baker	Hugh Bowman	55.5	88
4	SMOKIN’ JOEY	Lee Freedman	Damien Oliver	55.5	76
5	PRAECIDO (NZ)	David Payne	Craig Williams	55.5	82
6	YULALONA	Peter Snowden	Mark Zahra	55.5	82
7	KUDAKULARI (NZ)	Bart Cummings	Steven Arnold	55.5	82
8	LUCKYI’MBAREFOOT	Tracey Templeton	Dean Holland	55.5	68
9	DIGITAL FORTRESS (NZ)	Guy Walter	Blake Shinn	55.5	72
10	SHOOTOFF (NZ)	Graeme Rogerson	Corey Brown	55.5	74
11	ALMINDORO	Steve Richards	Steven King	55.5	72
12	COSMONAUT	Bart Cummings	Michael Rodd	55.5	65
13	KIRINATA	Paul Perry	Nash Rawiller	55.5	66
14	PERFECT PECS	Rick Hore-Lacy	Craig Newitt	55.5	68
15	TALE OF THUNDER	John P Thompson	Jim Cassidy	55.5	65
16	ULUNDI	Pat Carey	Ben Melham	55.5	64
17e	ABSOLUTELYAWESOME (NZ)	Michael Moroney	Luke Nolen	55.5	66
18e	SHADOWOFEXCELLENCE	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	–	55.5	67
19e	ACCLAIMED CHAOS	Peter Healey	Dean Yendall	55.5	61
20e	KERCHINGS	Anthony Cummings	Michael Walker	55.5	61