Australia: Three stakes on Friday will help determine field for Melbourne Cup
Three vital preps for the Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in Australia on Nov. 1 will be run at Flemington and Royal Randwick on Friday at the end of a week in which the list of hopefuls for the country’s most famous race has changed.
Earlier this week, Spanish Mission, third in the 2021 Melbourne Cup, was retired because of injury. A 6-year-old Kentucky-bred, Spanish Mission was rated as a leading contender in the two-mile handicap.
Flemington has two major stakes with Melbourne Cup implications on Friday evening – the Group 3 Bart Cummings Stakes at 1 9/16 miles run under handicap conditions, and the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes at 1 1/4 miles, a weight-for-age race.
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The winner of the $486,150 Cummings Stakes receives a berth to the $5.18 million Melbourne Cup, which is limited to 24 runners.
Interpretation was ranked 39th on the list of candidates as of earlier this week, making a win in the Cummings Stakes all the more important. For the Cummings, which drew a field of 16, Interpretation was the 4-1 favorite as of Thursday for what will be his third start in Australia.
A stakes winner in Ireland in 2021, Interpretation has finished sixth and fifth in his first two starts in Australia.
His main rival in the Cummings is Daqiansweet Junior, a 6-1 chance who ranks 21st on the Melbourne Cup list. Daqiansweet Junior is winless in three starts since winning the Group 2 Adelaide Cup at two miles at Morphettville Racecourse in March.
Gold Trip and Duais, fourth and fifth in the Melbourne Cup rankings, will dominate the betting in the $648,200 Turnbull Stakes. Gold Trip was the 5-2 favorite on Thursday, ahead of Duais at 9-2.
Gold Trip, fourth in the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp in Paris in 2020, is winless in two starts in Australia, including a third in the Group 3 Foundation Cup at 1 1/4 miles at Caulfield Racecourse on Sept. 17.
Duais, a 5-year-old mare, is winless in three starts since a victory in the Group 1 Tancred Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at Newcastle in March, her second consecutive win at that level.
Flemington has a nine-race program, consisting entirely of stakes, beginning at 10:40 p.m. Eastern or 7:40 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.
At Randwick, Durston was the 3-1 favorite in early betting for the Group 1 Metropolitan Stakes at 1 1/2 miles. He needs a big result to improve on his current ranking of 30th on the Melbourne Cup list.
Durston is favored on the basis of two stakes wins in September at 1 5/16 miles and 1 7/16 miles against lesser competition. Stockman, second to Duais in the Tancred, and Le Don De Vie, 13th of 17 in the 2021 Metropolitan, are ranked 14th and 17th on the Melbourne Cup list and are other prominent runners in the $486,150 Metropolitan, a handicap that drew a field of 13.
Randwick has a 10-race program that begins at 9:50 p.m. Eastern or 6:50 p.m. Pacific. Eight of the races are stakes, including the Group 1 Epsom Stakes at a mile. Run as a handicap, the $972,300 Epsom Stakes is led by Hinged, who was third in the Group 1 George Main Stakes at a mile at Randwick run in weight-for-age conditions on Sept. 17.
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