The Darren Weir trained Amelie’s Star has firmed in the betting for both the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup after escaping a penalty for her win in the Group 3 $300,000 The Bart Cummings (2500m) at Flemington last Saturday.
Amelie’s Star, above, has escaped a penalty for both the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup following her win in The Bart Cummings at Flemington. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Amelie’s Star will now only have to carry 51kg in both Cups and is marked as the second favourite at $6 at Ladbrokes.com.au for the Group 1 $3.15m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 21 and is on the second line of betting at $11 for the Group 1 $6.25m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 7.
Racing Victoria’s Executive General Manger – Racing, Greg Carpenter said that he was comfortable in not giving Amelie’s Star a Cup’s penalty for her win in The Bart Cummings.
“Amelie’s Star will meet Almandin on the same weight terms in the Melbourne Cup as she did on Saturday (5.5kg less) and is 1.5kg worse off against Harlem,” Carpenter said.
“Her Melbourne Cup weight will be 51kg, the same weight Almandin was given after he won The Bart Cummings in 2016 before going on to win the Melbourne Cup (with 52kg after weights were raised).”
The Robert Hickmott trained Almandin won The Bart Cummings last year before going to win the Melbourne Cup and chased Amelie’s Star home to finish fourth in The Bart Cummings with 60kg on his back.
Almandin drops to 56.5kg in the Melbourne which means there will still be the same 5.5kg weight difference between him and Amelie’s Stars who carried 54.5kg to victory in The Bart Cummings.
Amelie’s Star is now number one in the order of entry for the Melbourne Cup after being exempt from the ballot because of her win in The Bart Cummings but is not guaranteed a start in the Caulfield Cup and currently sits at number thirty-five in the order of entry.
Two starts back Amelie’s Star made up plenty of ground from the back to finish fourth in the Group 3 $150,000 Bendigo Bank East Malvern MRC Foundation Cup (Naturalism Stakes) (2000m) at Caulfield on September 23 and Weir was expecting an improved performance stepping up to the 2500m last Saturday.
“She has had a beautiful preparation and she will have to run somewhere now between now and the Melbourne Cup,” Weir said.
“We will have to map out what we do, but she is very sound and she has lots of miles in her legs.
“We just need to gets thing right between now and the Melbourne Cup and who knows what will happen.”
Kiwi mare Bonneval heads the betting for the Caulfield Cup at $4.80 while last year’s winner Almandin is the $7 favourite for the Melbourne Cup.
