Horsing Around: 14/9 - 20/9

Big Bets: Biggest Wager On The Everest 2020 Goes On

One punter will be looking for Joe Pride trained runner and Everest hopeful Eduardo to continue his red hot Sydney form and conquer one more big race this spring.

Formerly trained in Victoria by Sarah Zschoke, Eduardo has made a winning start with Joe Pride in Sydney, taking out the July Sprint and the Group Two Missile Stakes.

Looking to tackle The Shorts this weekend the colt could go a long way to securing a slot in the world's richest race and join the likes of Classique Legend and Rothfire in the starting field. 

TAB reported early this week that the punter had placed the largest single wager in $10,000 on Eduardo to win at $34.

If the runner wins the punter will be looking to scoop a huge $340,000 in return. TAB reported that the best on the roughie was the single largest wager so far on the field. As a result of the punt his price subsequently dropped in to $26. 

One to watch this weekend, punters will be looking for Eduardo to replicate the form that saw him take out the Missile Stakes last month. 

Spring Watch: International Raiders Arrive In Melbourne

It’ll be a very different Spring this year in Australia with the current pandemic reducing access to racecourses across the nation.

However the excitement for Victoria’s signature racing carnival is still strong as the internationals begin to arrive down under and enter quarantine prior to tackling the big races. 

Racing Victoria published a list of currently quarantined horses that have arrived to take on the locals in the hunt for gold. 

In total 29 horses were announced to be in quarantine with 16 travelling with international trainers and the remaining 13 travelling to be trained locally. 

One of the most anticipated arrivals for the Maher and Eustace stable was the big money purchase of Sir Dragonet. The recent group 1 winner in the UK will be looking to tackle the Cox Plate and has already had several huge wagers to win further cups. 

Prince of Arran and trainer Charlie Fellowes return for the third run at the Melbourne Cup. The serial place getter returns for his hat trick of runs round Flemington however is expected to go straight into the race this year rather than go through the Herbert Power like in previous years. 

The list of horses that have entered quarantine is:

1. Anthony Van Dyck - Aidan O'Brien (Ireland)

2. Armory - Aidan O'Brien (Ireland)

3. Magic Wand - Aidan O'Brien (Ireland)

4. Tiger Moth - Aidan O'Brien (Ireland)

5. Santiago - Aidan O'Brien (Ireland)

6. Wichita - Aidan O'Brien (Ireland)

7. Buckhurst - Joseph O'Brien (Ireland)

8. Master of Reality - Joseph O'Brien (Ireland)

9. Pondus - Joseph O'Brien (Ireland)

10. Twilight Payment - Joseph O'Brien (Ireland)

11. Stratum - Willie Mullins (Ireland)

12. True Self - Willie Mullins (Ireland)

13. Ashrun - Andreas Wohler (Germany)

14. Aspetar - Roger Charlton (UK)

15. Dashing Willoughby - Andrew Balding (UK)

16. Prince Of Arran - Charlie Fellowes (UK)

17. Involved - Ciaron Maher and David Eustace

18. Sir Dragonet - Ciaron Maher and David Eustace

19. Tinandali - Ciaron Maher and David Eustace

20. Mr Satchmo - Chris Waller

21. Selino - Chris Waller

22. Almania - Kris Lees

23. Collide - Kris Lees

24. Le Don De Vie - Anthony and Sam Freedman

25. Nickajack Cave - Peter Moody

26. Port Guillaume - Tom Dabernig and Ben Hayes

27. San Huberto - Matt Cumani

28. Skyward - Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young

29. Sound of Cannons - John O'Shea

Scaling Everest: Mike Moroney Runner Locks In As Runner Number 5

Yulong Investments have come to the Everest party and confirmed that Tofane trained by Mike Moroney will fill there stall in the 2020 running of the Everest.

Tofane will line up alongside the already confirmed Nature Strip, Rothfire, Classique Legend and Gytrash to tackle the $15m race.

The Moroney runner had been in great form towards the end of the last campaign in which she closed out with a win in the All Aged Stakes. She returned to action earlier this month running a strong race in the Bobby Lewis over 1200m at Flemington. 

 “I was more than satisfied with her effort under the circumstances,” Moroney said.

“She had top-weight, the race wasn’t really run to suit so I thought for her to be beaten under half a length was an excellent run.

Yulong and Moroney will undoubtedly be looking to Tofanes All Aged Stakes run though for confidence after rising from the canvas to beat home Pierata.

Don’t Ask, Don’t Get: How Standout Booking Was Made By Luck

Nash Rawiller let Gerald Ryan know he would be riding Eduardo in the Shorts this weekend which left the trainer of Standout with a last minute rush to find a jockey to partner the colt in the Everest prelude on Saturday.

It looked bleak to find a partner for his star colt but a casual phone call and some pure luck he’s now ended up with one of Sydneys best jockeys to take the ride. 

“I didn’t know who we were going to get,” Ryan said.

“I was speaking to James McDonald’s manager Mark Guest about which horses Robbie Dolan could ride for me at a set of trials and without really thinking seriously about it I said, “what is James riding in The Shorts”.

“Guesty told me “he’s got nothing” so I threw Standout in the mix and he rang me back a couple of hours later and told me James said “bloody oath I’ll ride him”.

“This all happened Thursday week ago and I thought he would have already had a ride in the race so I only asked his manager to kill time while discussing the trials. It’s amazing how things work out.”

McDonald will partner Standout over the 1200m race and has seen heavy support moving from $10 into $5.50 to take out the race. 

Check out Standout’s performance in the Expressway here:

Home Town Hero: Lees Finally Wins Home Town Cup

Kris Lees is a recognised name in the Australian Racing and he finally managed to capture the local cup that had alluded him and father Max for so long. 

With the Newcastle Cup traditionally taking place on the Friday Lees saw Mugatoo come sweeping home to win and finally take out the cup closest to home. 

’I am very relieved and very grateful too,’’ Lees said. “It’s not a time honoured event for some but it’s our home-town Cup and it means a lot to a lot of people. Australian Bloodstock are all Newcastle boys so it is very rewarding and a great feeling.’’

Australian Bloodstock import Mugatoo was a heavy favourite come post time off the back of some scintillating wins in the lead-up to yesterday’s feature.

With 3 time Melbourne Cup and dual Everest winner Kerrin McEvoy aboard he placed the import perfectly in midfield before pulling 4 wide and over powering the leader, Hush Writer in the straight to win. 

“I was a little bit worried on straightening, he just wanted to lay in a touch I thought, but he is a really good horse and he has got a bright future.’’

A great win for Lees and the Newcastle region keeping the cup locally.

Going All Out: Uk Apprentice Receives Ban For Riding Home A Circuit Early

Extraordinary scenes at Wolverhampton in UK Saturday evening (local time) as apprentice jockey George Rooke jumped aboard 11/4 favourite Sophar Sogood in what seemed like a standard 2 mile race. 

Rooke thinking he’d had a good ride after the first lap pushed the favourite on in the straight to kick 7 furlongs clear of the rest of the field and eased the Richard Hayes trained runner down past the line. 

What Rooke had forgotten was that the 2m race was only half way through. Having eased down about 2 furlongs into the second lap Rooke watched as the rest of the field pushed on and moved clear.

Rooke was seemingly unaware of his mistake until the rest of the field swept by him heading out to the back straight, at which point he started riding again.

Having expended his mount's energy, he eventually trailed home on Sophar Sogood to finish ninth of ten, beaten 55¼ lengths.

After interviewing the rider and showing him recordings of the incident, the stewards banned Rooke for 14 days (October 3, 5-17).

https://twitter.com/AtTheRaces/status/1307425798463332353?s=2

Backing Roughies: Boilover in New Zealand Group 1 Feature

It was the opening Group 1 of the New Zealand thoroughbred racing calendar, The Tarzino Trophy over 1400m.

Trainer John Bary had saddled up plenty of Group One winners in the past including stable star Jimmy Choux who had amassed $3.6m in his time. 

Even he wouldn’t have expected to see $82 shot Callsign Mav winning the first big group race of the season beating home Supera and favourite Advantage. 

Jockey Jonathan Riddell was infamous in riding Jimmy Choux to many victories and was just as excited to get over the line of the $82 shot on the weekend: 

“It was just like the old days again, with Riddell and Jimmy,” said Bary, who is recuperating at home after undergoing back surgery earlier in the month.

“Jonathan moved up to Cambridge four or five years ago now and has been doing a lot of riding up there since then, so the stars hadn’t really aligned in recent times in terms of him riding for us. But it came together on Saturday.

“It’s a shame I’m stuck at home and couldn’t be there today, but this has definitely given me a big boost in my recovery.”

Spring Star: Rising Colt Out Of Moir Stakes

Star cult of the Maher and Eustace stable, Anders is set to miss the Moir Stakes this coming Friday after having a high temperature for the past few days. 

One of the most exciting racing prospects and a pre race favourite to take out his first Group 1 has was confirmed to be out by the stable over the weekend.

"It is with great disappointment to announce Anders has had a temperature over the weekend, which has been monitored closely," the statement read.

"Although not of serious nature, it is enough to miss his gallop at Moonee Valley tomorrow and in turn the Moir Stakes next Friday night.

"This is extremely disappointing for his existing owners including Aquis and Widden Stud as we felt the Moir was a race to prove his Group 1 ability to the racing public.

"However we are very confident of him doing that in future targets during spring, with the The Everest and Coolmore ahead.

"With it only being a minor setback, we will now focus on getting him right for those races."

It’s a huge loss for the stable which would have seen the Moir a perfect race for Anders front running style. Especially after recently seeing Anders destroy the G3 San Domenico field at Randwick:

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