McCormack fits nicely in Tamworth Showcase Cup

The countryside meeting at Tamworth Racecourse, and an appearance in Sunday’s $102,080 Tamworth Showcase Cup, may be a better fit for McCormack than a trip he took to Sydney for the $255,200 Provincial Championship earlier this month at Royal Randwick Racecourse in Australia.

McCormack finished seventh of 15 at Randwick in the richest race of his 17-race career, beaten 4 1/2 lengths at 8-1. The 4-year-old Southern Hemisphere gelding figures to be a fraction of those odds in the Tamworth Showcase Cup, which will have a maximum of 14 runners and is run at seven furlongs.

Trained by Tracey Bartley, McCormack won a six-furlong handicap at Warwick Farm on March 11 and was second by a neck 10 days later in a qualifier for the Randwick race at Kembla Grange.

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The Showcase Cup will be McCormack’s first start at Tamworth, located northwest of Sydney. Under handicap conditions, McCormack will carry 122 pounds.

McCormack is a closer, who will have company in that respect from top-weighted Articus, an 8-year-old French-bred. Articus, who will carry 134 pounds, was fifth by 3 3/4 lengths in the Muswellbrook Cup at 7 1/2 furlongs on March 27, his first start of 2020.

Last September, Articus was second by a length in the Group 3 Cameron Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs at Newcastle and 15th of 16 in The Gong Stakes, a one-mile race worth approximately $678,000 that was run for the first time last November at Kembla Grange.

The Tamworth Showcase Cup will be the first start since July for six-time winner Unbiased, who won this race last year as the 3-2 favorite. Unbiased had one win in five subsequent starts from May to July last year.

The Tamworth Showcase Cup is the seventh race on an eight-race program that begins at 10:30 p.m. Eastern, or 7:30 p.m. Pacific, on Saturday. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.