3 minute read

Friday’s $170,000 Albury Gold Cup promises to be a classic confrontation between four of Australia’s leading stables.

Rarely does a country feature race attract runners from the Gai Waterhouse, Peter Moody, David Hayes/Tom Dabernig and Lee and Anthony Freedman yards but that will be the case in Friday’s Commercial Club Albury Gold Cup (2000m).

David Hayes already has two Albury Cups to his credit with Growl (2010) and Extra Zero (2012) while Lee Freedman won the 1989 Albury Cup with Abstraction.

However Waterhouse and Moody have found the race an elusive goal, each having had numerous starters without success.

Moody has trained two minor placegetters but none of Waterhouse’s past Albury Cup runners have finished on the board, her best result being a fourth last year with Queenstown.

However this could be her year as she is confident her last start Canberra Cup winner Hippopus will prove the horse to beat against the strong Victorian contingent.

“Hippopus has thrived since he won at Canberra,” Waterhouse said. “He is in the best form of his career and has improved since his Canberra win.”

Hippopus was having just his third run back from a spell when he led all the way for an easy win in the $200,000 Canberra Cup (2000m) on March 6.

He has paid the penalty with a rise from 54kg to 58kg after weights for the Albury Cup were raised 2kg when the topweights Beyond Thankful and Centre Pivot did not accept. In reality the weight increase is not as severe as it appears as he is carrying only 2kg over the raised limit of 56kg in the 10 horse field.

Tim Clark has retained the ride on Hippopus, after riding him to victory in the Canberra Cup and Waterhouse expects him to adopt the same front running tactics.

“Hippopus is a strong stayer who loves to make his own speed. He will be the horse they have to run down.” Waterhouse said.

He will be a stern rival for the promising import Tom Melbourne, who is regarded as a Caulfield Cup horse by the Freedman stable after winning four of his first six starts.

The five-year-old won his only start in Ireland over 2000m in 2014 and has made an impression winning three of his last four starts for the Freedmans at Sale, Sandown and Flemington.

He was having his first start since a Sandown win over 2100m in December when he scored easily over 1800m at Flemington on March 5 and his expected improvement from that race is the “X factor” in Friday’s race.

However to this point of time there is a distinct class gap between Hippopus and Tom Melbourne. Hippopus won the Listed VRC St Leger at Flemington as a three-year-old and has been placed in three Group 2 and 3 races while Tom Melbourne is yet to win in open company

Glen Boss has ridden Tom Melbourne in his last two wins and sticks with the import on Friday. Boss won his first Albury Cup on Paddy O’Reilly for Robert Smerdon in 2011.

The Hayes and Moody stables are both double handed in the Albury Cup.

Hayes and his training partner and nephew Tom Dabernig will saddle up the honest Tashbeeh (Michael Walker) as well as Koroibete (Regan Bayliss) while Moody is relying on Radical (Jake Duffy) and Golden Mane (John Kissick).

Tashbeeh has been racing in Melbourne since the start of the spring and has progressed strongly through the grades, racing 11 times since September for three wins and four placings up to 2000m.