Amade takes out the Belmont Gold Cup. I read last night that OTI Racing had bought into him this March and boss Terry Henderson was confident he was well-placed in the race leading in:

"It’s a Group 2 race and a win there would probably take him up to (an international rating of) 112-to-114 mark and that makes him a serious Melbourne Cup horse.

"Red Cardinal won it a couple of years ago. It’s on a flat track (the same as Flemington) so we get a good assessment of that and it’s also left-handed – the Melbourne way of running – so we’ll get a pretty good idea."

Per their twitter after this morning's win: "A Melbourne Cup campaign will very much be on the agenda after an incredible win for connections!"

You can read a comprehensive pre-race profile on him (and the other internationals in the field) here: https://www.twinspires.com/blog/201...ootasadir-amade

You can watch the race here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRbfcKTh6Pg (with Spanish commentary).

Mootasadir and Raa Atoll were 1-2 most of the way. They only seemed to go at a moderate pace though and were swept past in the straight. Race time was 3'19.95, which is the slowest since it become a black type race a few years ago.


OTI Racing have Grey Lion ($7) and Master Zephyr ($101) in today's Brisbane Cup.