Heightened interest from leading metropolitan and provincial trainers has ensured Friday’s $200,000 Carlton Dry Port Macquarie Cup is shaping up to be one of the best fields presented for this prestigious event.
The Chris Waller stable has earmarked two horses for the club’s feature with Our Intrigue and Achiever both having undeniable chances to continue the wonderful recent strike rate enjoyed by the stable in this prestigious event.
Our Intrigue posted a strong win at the Kembla Grange metropolitan meeting a month ago before the daughter of Showcasing was narrowly defeated by Toomuchtobear in similar class a fortnight later.
With the benefit of a recent Rosehill outing under her belt, Our Intrigue shapes up as a strong chance in the event while Achiever also stakes his claim with the son of Pride of Dubai a gallant fourth in the Queensland Derby at group one level when previously in work.
The gelding has returned from a spell with sound performances in unsuitable races at Doomben and it should be noted that Achiever did beat his stablemate to the post in the recent Rosehill run behind Yiyi.
Waller is keen to emulate the deeds of Loving Home and Exoteric with the pair successful in this great race in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
Purrfect Deal has deserved the top weight impost for the feature with the Michael Costa trained mare looking to repeat his cup win at Grafton in July over Laure me In and Parry Sound.
With two placings from a spell at Doomben and Gold Coast providing the ideal preparation, Purrfect Deal outlines the class involved in this year’s race.
Alakahan and Unamerican are the two entrants for Richard and Michael Freedman with the stable keen for a favourable result after supporting the club in recent years with Shalmaneser and Zaunkonig.
Unamerican is working through the grades and the son of Americain comes into the race with two Gosford victories from his previous three outings while Alakahan took out the Gold Coast Cup earlier in the year.
Gerald Ryan & Sterling Alexiou have entered Cisco Bay for the race while Milk Man represents a definite chance for Warwick Farm trainer, Matthew Smith, following two solid placings at Doomben in preparation for the assignment.
Fantastic Baby held on to defeat Battle Guardian in the Cup Prelude a couple of weeks ago and both have strong prospects in the cup after receiving automatic entrance.
Throw in Kiss the Bride for Bjorn Baker and Master Shuhood from the Warwick Farm stable of Richard Litt and you have the makings of a highly anticipated event.
The Showcase status allotted by Racing NSW has resulted in a massive number of 172 nominations for the fixture with the club highly delighted by the strong interest in the support races, including $80,000 Birdon Group Sprint and the $50,000 Hastings Cup.
The continuation of Covid-19 health regulations and government restrictions has forced the club to advise that attendance for the two-day carnival is limited to essential personnel only until further notice.
Owners, members, and the general public will not be permitted to attend the Port Racing Complex.
