A win in the Group 3 $120,000 David R Coles AM Spring Stakes (1200m) at Morphettville on Saturday won’t be enough to guarantee Lankan Rupee a place in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes.
Conditions of the Group 1 $1m Memsie Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on September 2 state that any horse that has failed to collect $90,000 in an individual performance in the last two years will be ruled out of the ballot if the field exceeds the race limit.
Caulfield trainer Mick Price had nominated Lankan Rupee for both the Spring Stakes and the Group 2 $200,000 P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Price has planned to sneak over to Morphettville for the 1200m Spring Stakes after Lankan Rupee’s Spring campaign was put back a week with the rescheduling of the Group 3 $150,000 Bletchingly Stakes (1200m) at Sandown on August 6.
Price was of the thinking that the step up to 1400m might be a bit quick following his tough first up second in the Bletchingly Stakes and was looking for a another 1200m race to fit the eight year old for the Memsie Stakes, but now he might be forced to try and win the P.B. Lawrence Stakes to gain a place in the Group 1 two weeks later.
Racing Victoria’s executive general manager of racing Greg Carpenter explained that Lankan Rupee needs to collect the $120,000 P.B. Lawrence Stakes winner’s cheque to be certain of gaining a spot in the Memsie Stakes.
“One of my fears has been (the connections of) Lankan Rupee have stated a fair way out that they would be targeting it but because of the fact that he hasn’t won since the Lightning Stakes of 2015, he is one horse who is extremely vulnerable at the ballot,” Carpenter said.
“To ensure form is reasonably relevant and horses are not getting in on prize money earned five years ago, you have to have earned $90,000 in one individual performance over the past two years.”
“It’s not onerous, but he (Lankan Rupee) simply has not won a race and has not been placed in a major Group 1 race that delivers him $90,000 in prize money in one performance.”
Lankan Rupee is the winner of five Group 1 races with prizemoney earnings of over $4 million but has been raced sparingly over the last couple years because of injury and hasn’t collected a cheque worth $90,000 or more since winning the Group 1 $500,000 Black Caviar Lightning (1000m) at Flemington during the 2015 Melbourne Autumn Carnival.
Nineteen sprinters have been nominated for the Spring Stakes at Morphettville while Lankan Rupee is one of eighteen horses entered for the P.B. Lawrence Stakes.