Australia: Our Intrigue must beat stablemate in Port Macquarie Cup

At the age of 6, the New Zealand-bred mare Our Intrigue has been tried at 1 1/4 miles for the first time in her career this year. The distance seems a good fit, judging from recent results.

After an eighth-place finish in her first start at 1 1/4 miles on a heavy turf course at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in July, Our Intrigue won and finished second in races at that distance at Kembla Grange on Aug. 28 and Sept. 11.

Friday at Port Macquarie Racecourse, Our Intrigue will start in her richest race of the year in the $145,380 Port Macquarie Cup at 1 1/4 miles.

Our Intrigue was the 3-1 second choice in early betting on Wednesday, slightly behind stablemate Achiever at 5-2. Both are trained by Chris Waller.

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Port Macquarie has an eight-race program beginning at 10:20 p.m., Eastern, or 7:20 p.m., Pacific, on Thursday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

The Port Macquarie Cup will be the first time Our Intrigue has been ridden by Grant Buckley, who tends to be active at the smaller venues in the state of New South Wales. Buckley won with 3 of 50 mounts from Sept. 20 through Tuesday.

Achiever and Our Intrigue were third and fifth in a handicap at 1 3/16 miles at Rosehill Gardens on Sept. 25. Achiever set the pace before fading late, while Our Intrigue was beaten five lengths behind the Waller-trained Yiyi. Our Intrigue ran steadily through the stretch, but could not make up ground on Yiyi, who had finished third behind Our Intrigue at Kembla Grange on Sept. 11.

The Port Macquarie Cup, which will be run without spectators, will have a full field of 14.

The 5-year-old gelding Unamerican has an outsider’s chance. Trained by Richard and Michael Freedman, Unamerican won consecutive starts at Gosford Park at 1 5/16 miles on Aug. 27 and at 1 3/16 miles on Sept. 8.

Unamerican finished third there by 1 1/2 lengths in a handicap at 1 3/16 miles on Sept. 22 behind the former graded stakes runner, and 2-5 favorite, Solar Apex, who is trained by Waller.