With the picture always changing a little, we’re on the constant lookout for Melbourne Cup clues.
Results of the Peter Young and Lord Reims offered us some form lines a couple of weeks ago. Former winners Vow And Declare and Gold Trip ran excellent races at Caulfield, while The Map was a solid runner-up at Morphettville.
Neither of those results affected the current Melbourne Cup betting too much. The Adelaide Cup however moves things on a little more.
Two Melbourne Contenders Target Morphettville
Having already reported on Dan Clarken and Oopy Macgillivray’s The Map, she is worth watching this Monday.
The mare goes into the Adelaide Cup, always her target, as favourite. The Group 2 race is run over the full Melbourne Cup distance of 3200m at Group 2 level and offers a great test. She should relish the open handicap and can take another step up the ladder.
The race comes at a nice time in the calendar for The Map. The plan is to run well at Morphettville, ideally winning, before going onto a ballot exemption race.
Just behind The Map in the ante-post odds is the Phillip Stokes-trained Amade. A ten-year-old these days, his best days are probably not ahead of him but he remains in the reckoning.
Amade in fact won the Geelong Cup in October with The Map in behind. Though disappointing in the Zipping Classic, his form has held up pretty well generally. Much like The Map, the plan will be to take on this race before going for a Golden Ticket event.
Yellow Brick Road and Excelleration come next in the betting for the Adelaide Cup. Both Amade and The Map can be backed at $101 for the Melbourne Cup.
Fantastic Cup Lineup
A glance over recent placings in the Adelaide Cup doesn’t offer too much confidence regarding future prospects in the Melbourne Cup. That said, it remains a top race which we cannot discount. As a Group 2 over 3200m, it is exactly the sort of race we’d hope trainers would go for en route.
The track is a Good 4 at the time of writing for the big public holiday. Visitors can enter Morphettville from 11am, choosing from various enclosures. Ferris wheels, DJ’s and even a petting zoo are on offer.
After the opening handicaps on the card, the Cinderella Stakes is also run. The two-year-old fillies will fight it out for good prize money over 1050 metres.
The CS Hayes Memorial Cup also has a good purse for those going over 1600m. The race was won last year by Beltoro for trainer Robert Hickmott. The Matrice Stakes is a 1200m sprint and precedes the big race, with even more action offered to finish off a fine day of racing.
All eyes are on the feature, with potential Melbourne Cup planning altered for various trainers as a result.
