Rosehill Guineas winner Gingernuts won’t be coming to Melbourne for the Group 1 $3.15m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield or the Group 1 $6.25m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington after missing a vital lead up run at Hastings on Saturday.
Kiwi stayer Gingernuts, above, is out of contention for the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup. Photo by Steve Hart.
Gingernuts was scheduled to run in the Group 1 NZ$250,000 Livamol Classic (2040m) at Hastings but the latter half of the meeting was abandoned following some heavy rain that made the track unsafe and leaving the Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards trained four year old stayer without a much needed Caulfield Cup hit out.
Gingernuts races under the Te Akau Racing banner and chief boss David Ellis had no other option but to miss the Caulfield Cup on October 21 and Melbourne Cup on November 7 and will now aim for the Group 1 $2m Emirates Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on the last day of the four day Melbourne Cup Carnival.
“You can’t control the weather and it is just very very unfortunate what has happened with the track on the weekend,” Elliss told the New Zealand Racing Desk.
“By missing a run on Saturday, it means he won’t be ready for the Caulfield Cup or the Melbourne Cup after that so we have had to shift to Plan B.
“We are going to wait and see what decision is taken with rescheduling the Livamol and if it fits in he will remain here to contest the race before heading over to Melbourne to run in the Emirates Stakes.
“If for some reason they can’t reschedule the Livamol or it isn’t on a date that suits he will go to Melbourne a little earlier and have a lead-up run to the Emirates over there.”
Gingernuts is the winner of three Group 1 races and before he won the $600,000 Sky Racing Rosehill Guineas (2000m) at Rosehill during the 2017 Sydney Autumn Carnival took out the NZ$1m New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie.
The Iffraaj four year old was quick to regain his Group 1 winning form in the Spring with a last start win in the Group 1 NZ$200,000 Windsor Park Plate (1600m) at Hastings in New Zealand on September 23.
Gingernuts was currently marked at $21 for the Caulfield Cup at Ladbrokes.com.au while in the Melbourne Cup he was listed as a $41 chance.
