Group Two-winning sprinter Churchill Dancer and seven-year-old It Is Written head the weights for the Group Three Standish Handicap, one of two stakes races on the New Year’s Day program at Flemington.

The Standish (1200m) has attracted 15 nominations with Churchill Dancer and It Is Written given 59kg, two kilos more than Tried And Tired.

Tried And Tired won the Listed Christmas Stakes last summer but skipped the Boxing Day sprint at Caulfield to instead target the Standish.

Godolphin trainer John O’Shea has entered Barbed (56kg) and Sarejevo (54kg) while in-form Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained Durendal will carry 55.5kg with Damian Lane to ride.

Durendal’s half brother Flamberge won the event in 2014 while 2015 Standish winner Decircles is also among the entries.

Sydney stayer Sir John Hawkwood heads the weights with 60kg for the Bagot Handicap (2800m).

Trainer David Vandyke has to decide whether to run the last-start Christmas Cup winner in Sydney in Friday’s Tattersalls Club Cup at Randwick or the Bagot.

Seven of the 19 horses entered for the Bagot are also nominated for a benchmark-78 over 2500m at Moonee Valley on Saturday, most notably the Chris Waller-trained Danjeu who won an $80,000 race over 2400m at Sandown last week.

Article from JustHorseRacing.com.au