The Darren Weir trained Kings Will Dream has been promoted to outright favourite after drawing barrier six in the 2018 Group 1 $5m Stella Artois Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Kings Will Dream is now the $5 favourite for the Caulfield Cup with Ladbrokes.com.au just ahead of the Chris Waller trained Youngstar at $5.50 and the Irish stayer The Cliffsofmoher at $7.
Kings Will Dream will most likely move in one barrier at start time if second emergency Jaameh, who drew barrier five, doesn’t gain a late call up into the final eighteen horse field.
Youngstar, with Kerrin McEvoy in the saddle, drew barrier ten in the original draw but could start from nine while Hugh Bowman will be able to save plenty of ground on The Cliffsofmoher who drew gate three.
Craig Williams has retained the plumb ride on lightly weighted Kings Will Dream after the pair ran a handy third behind Winx and Youngstar in the Group 1 $500,000 Seppelt Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on October 6.
Kings Will Dream gained an automatic entry into the 2018 Caulfield Cup with his win in the Listed $300,000 Mornington Cup (2400m) at Mornington in March and Spicer Thoroughbreds Syndicate manager Brad Spicer said that it has been a long seven months wait for the owners.
“That was very important. Darren (Weir) actually targeted that race after he won, I think at Ballarat, he said I think this horse can win a Mornington Cup, which then gets us in the Caulfield Cup, so that’s really important key initiative and it’s great those ballot free races are around,” Spicer told racing.com.
“It’s a long wait for the owners, seven months, from Mornington to today.”
“Jobs done, four to eight is perfect. Horse has had a faultless preparation and the barrier draw was just another sign of it, so hopefully Saturday we can get another run in transit, Craig can do his job and we can get that Cup.”
“I feel he’s got the right form going into the race, but there’s probably another five, six, seven runners with great chances and it’s one of the stellar fields I’ve seen in a while, but as long as he can run on his merits, if he gets beaten so be it, hopefully we can get a clear crack at them on Saturday.”
Kings Will Dream has had four runs back on his way to the Caulfield Cup and has been placed three times at Group 1 level with a third in the $1m New Zealand Bloodstock Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield, a second in the $750,000 PFD Food Services Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington followed by a third in the Turnbull Stakes.
Weir will also saddle up $13 chance Night’s Watch (Ben Allen, barrier 18) and $51 outsider Gallic Chieftain (Dean Yendall, barrier 2) in the Caulfield Cup.
Final field and barrier draw for 2018 Caulfield Cup (2400m)
No | Last 10 | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Barrier | Weight | Penalty | Hcp Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1x3195x111 | BEST SOLUTION (IRE) | Saeed Bin Suroor | Pat Cosgrave | 17 | 57.5kg | – | 114 |
2 | 8x512433x4 | THE CLIFFSOFMOHER (IRE) | Aidan O’Brien | Hugh Bowman | 3 | 56.5kg | – | 113 |
3 | 15x211250x | CHESTNUT COAT (JPN) | Yoshito Yahagi | Yuga Kawada | 13 | 55.5kg | – | 110 |
4 | x68139x437 | JON SNOW (NZ) | Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman | Damian Lane | 15 | 55.5kg | – | 110 |
5 | 2144x1132x | SOUND CHECK (GER) | Michael Moroney | Jordan Childs | 16 | 55.5kg | – | 110 |
6 | 55462×0241 | ACE HIGH | David Payne | Damien Oliver | 8 | 55kg | – | 110 |
7 | 5041x8x791 | THE TAJ MAHAL (IRE) | Liam Howley | James McDonald | 19 | 55kg | – | 109 |
8 | x3x15x5331 | DURETTO (GB) | Andrew Balding | Dwayne Dunn | 1 | 54.5kg | – | 108 |
9 | 21×1422225 | RED VERDON (USA) | Ed Dunlop | Zac Purton | 9 | 54kg | – | 107 |
10 | 121x05x405 | VENGEUR MASQUE (IRE) | Michael Moroney | Patrick Moloney | 7 | 54kg | – | 104 |
11 | 437829×794 | VENTURA STORM (IRE) | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Regan Bayliss | 11 | 54kg | – | 105 |
12 | 1x780x0069 | MIGHTY BOSS | Mick Price | Tim Clark | 14 | 53.5kg | – | 104 |
13 | 153x16x217 | HOMESMAN (USA) | Liam Howley | Ben Melham | 4 | 53kg | – | 110 |
14 | 11111×4323 | KINGS WILL DREAM (IRE) | Darren Weir | Craig Williams | 6 | 53kg | – | 105 |
15 | 732x03705x | SOLE IMPACT (JPN) | Hirofumi Toda | Ryusei Sakai (a) | 20 | 53kg | – | 105 |
16 | 431105×024 | GALLIC CHIEFTAIN (FR) | Darren Weir | Dean Yendall | 2 | 52.5kg | – | 104 |
17 | 2141×21316 | NIGHT’S WATCH (NZ) | Darren Weir | Ben Allen (a) | 18 | 52kg | 1.0kg | 105 |
18 | 311113×632 | YOUNGSTAR | Chris Waller | Kerrin McEvoy | 10 | 51.5kg | – | 107 |
19e | 114656×641 | PATRICK ERIN (NZ) | Chris Waller | Corey Brown | 12 | 52kg | 2.0kg | 104 |
20e | 33x1x61812 | JAAMEH (IRE) | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Cory Parish | 5 | 50kg | – | 100 |