Even this early in the year, the Cup field begins to somewhat take shape. We’ve already heard that Soulcombe is ready to come back and now there is a new horse moving into the Melbourne Cup betting picture.
JRA Plate Victory May Open the Door
A victory at Morphettville has potentially cleared the way for a Melbourne Cup tilt for The Map. The five-year-old mare, trained by Oopy MacGillivray and Dan Clarken, swept to victory in the JRA Plate at the weekend.
The exciting win has lit the flames, with dreams of a Melbourne Cup run becoming more of a reality. The mare missed out on such a chance in the 2023 version.
What we do know now is that this mare is one to watch in the weeks and months to come. She may be heading for the G3 Lord Reims Stakes over 2600 metres at Morphettville on February 24. After that may come the G2 Adelaide Cup over 3200m at the same course on March 11.
Connections hope that after these events, the mare can guarantee herself a spot in the Melbourne Cup on November 5. She can do this in the Roy Higgins Quality or perhaps the Andrew Ramsden Stakes. We will be watching with interest.
Who Is The Map?
For those who don’t know, The Map was a bargain buy at only $35,000 back in 2020. Since then, she has racked up more than $370,000 in prize money for her owners.
By Alpine Eagle out of This Moment, The Map is a fine stamp of a mare. She has seven wins to her name thus far including one around Flemington where those involved with her hope that she will star on the biggest stage of all in nine months’ time.
Joint-trained MacGillivray has gone on record recently to register excitement at what may be to come. Noted has been the mare’s toughness, with her strong mind coming to the fore.
Connections of the horse have not kept secret their desire to aim for the Melbourne Cup in November with her. Though acknowledging that it is always hard to get there in once piece and make it into the final field, they will do everything to be able to qualify.
As of now, no lead-up races have been ruled out. Nothing is 100% ruled in either. Connections won’t be thinking too far ahead, other that aiming at the two races we mentioned earlier in the Lord Reims and the Adelaide Cup.
In terms of the betting odds, nobody is getting too excited just yet. The online markets have installed The Map at around the $101 mark. Though she’s probably not a 100/1 poke if she wins her next race, the odds are pretty realistic as of now. Those who believe she has a strong chance may want to get on early.
