Despite rail draw, Entente stands out in 13-horse Macquarie Cup field

A rail draw in a big field is about the only drawback for Entente in Friday’s $142,800 Port Macquarie Cup at Port Macquarie Racecourse in Australia.

Entente, trained by the top training partnership of Adrian Bott and Gai Waterhouse, has a friendly weight assignment of 121 pounds, won his last start in a handicap at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse on Sept. 26, and won the Group 3 Carbine Stakes at a mile at Royal Randwick Racecourse in April.

Entente beat maidens in his fourth career start in March and has since won two of five starts. The recent win at Rosehill Gardens, at 1 1/8 miles, was the longest race of his career. The Port Macquarie Cup is run at 1 1/4 miles.

:: Get free past performances, analysis, and picks for Australian racing

Entente, who will be ridden by Tim Clark, tends to run near the front. Clark, who has ridden Entente in eight of his races, will need to keep the 4-year-old Australian-bred gelding settled in the first half of the race to ensure he can get the distance.

The Port Macquarie Cup is the seventh race on an eight-race program that begins at 10:25 p.m. Eastern, or 7:25 p.m. Pacific, on Thursday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.

The Port Macquarie Cup drew a field of 13. Sikandarabad will carry topweight of 136.6 pounds. An 8-year-old gelding, Sikandarabad was second to Mugatoo in the Group 3 Premiers Cup at 1 3/16 miles at Rosehill Gardens on Aug. 29, losing by 1 1/4 lengths.

Mugatoo is considered an outsider for the Melbourne Cup on Nov. 3. He won the Group 3 Newcastle Cup on Sept. 18 and was second in the Group 1 Metropolitan Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at Randwick on Oct. 3.

Sikandarabad, a winner of 5 of 35 starts, followed the loss in the Premiers Cup with a 12th-place finish in a field of 16 in the Group 3 Cape Town Stakes at Randwick on Sept. 19.

The 6-year-old mare Savacool should handle the Port Macquarie distance. Trained by Chris Waller, Savacool won the Rowley Mile Stakes at Hawkesbury in August and was fourth by three-quarters of a length in the Wyong Cup at 1 5/16 miles at Wyong Racecourse on Sept. 4.