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Old 26th April 2020, 03:12 PM
walkermac walkermac is offline
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Sacramento has won a ballot exemption for the Andrew Ramsden after taking out the VRC St Leger in a very tight finish yesterday: https://video.twimg.com/amplify_vid...vUVeDfXBDZO.mp4

Also on the Flemington program was last year's Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare in the 2600m William Newton VC Handicap. It didn't go great, with a 4.3L 5th placing and Jockey Craig Williams claiming after the race that the horse was 5 lengths off his best. His final 600m was 1 second slower than that achieved in his Cup victory, so that does sound about right. It was a genuine-run race though (only 0.42s off the 55 year old track record) so that was never going to suit Vow And Declare. They're now putting him away 'til Spring, as if the performance was terrible, but my thinking is that it was totally predictable given the conditions of the race.

Taking out the win was OTI import Haky. He came out for last year's Cup but fell around 10 spots short of making the final field. In the meantime he's switched trainers to Archie Alexander, who has endeavoured to stop his kamikaze leading ways. Yesterday it worked a treat, as he held off Sin To Win to take home the nearly $60k prizemoney. Perhaps enthusiasm should be tempered somewhat however, as apparently Sin To Win is off to race a maiden hurdle during the Warrnambool carnival. Archie Alexander is realistic regarding Haky's chances, declaring that he's a good country Cups contender but likely a little below the Melbourne Cup standard.

In other news, 2017 Cup Winner Rekindling is back in training with Joseph O'Brien. He was originally retired to stud but the now 6yo is responding well to his familiar Irish digs. He only raced the once following his Cup victory, finishing last in the 2019 Australian Cup. Yucatan is another Williams runner that has also made his way to the same O'Brien stable.

Prince Of Arran's connections intend to return to Australia for the Spring carnival, but note that it's all up in the air due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Their horses are still in work as they anticipate getting only around 2 weeks' notice as to when racing resumes. When it does, it's likely to be under similar conditions as to how Australian racing is operating currently.
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