Melbourne Cup Winner Vow And Declare to Resume Soon
One length was all that prevented a rare Melbourne – Caulfield Cups double in 2019.
Vow And Declare ran second in the Caulfield to Mer De Glace, the Japanese import. Vow And Declare was one of three that jumped $8 behind favourite Constantinople ($6.50) and Finche ($7.50), the others being the winner and Mr. Quickie.
Vow And Declare would win the Melbourne Cup by a head and a neck, surviving a bump from Master Of Reality.
Now, the four-year-old gelding is back for another campaign, hopefully one that does not include a Melbourne Cup hangover.
Trainer Danny O’Brien reports that the predominantly northern hemisphere derived champion is prepping nicely.
“He’s in great shape,” O’Brien said.”We’ll step things up over the next month. He’ll come to Flemington to trial some time in February and we’ll have a look at him from there.The plan is certainly that he runs in the Queen Elizabeth up in Sydney and then up to Brisbane.”
Vow And Declare made the most of three races in Queensland, producing a sixth, a second and a first, respectively, in the Group 3 Grand Prix Stakes (2200 m), the Group 1 Queensland Derby (2400 m) and the Group 3 Tatt’s Cup (3000 m).
O’Brien mentioned trialling at Flemington, which attracted our attention, because Vow And Declare, unlike others, has trialled only twice, his very first time out in competition and after last year’s Eagle Farm campaign.
There is some uncertainty whether Vow And Declare will do as well in weight-for-age races, such as the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000 m), but it is doubtful that handicap racing will see him sneak in at the low weights he drew as a three-year-old.
Possible Brisbane races coming along that might feature Vow And Declare are the Tatt’s Cup in June and the new w.f.a. EVA Air Q22.
O’Brien expressed optimism that Vow And Declare will improve, although he did not offer any vows to that end, but he did say, “He’s bigger and stronger than he was in the spring. And he needs to be if he’s going to step into weight-for-age, and also if he steps back into handicaps in the spring he’s going to be right up the top of the weights instead of the bottom.”