With no less than nine individual Group 1 winners on show, a fascinating race awaits as the first ‘major’ of the Melbourne carnival, the CF Orr Stakes (Race 7), headlines a fantastic card of racing at Caulfield on Saturday.
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The barrier draw has thrown a real spanner in the works with pre-race favourites Black Heart Bart and Malaguerra landing the two outside gates in the 12-horse field and an intriguing tactical battle may ensue.
Indeed, the opening round of their autumn battle saw Malaguerra record a clear points victory with a smashing triumph in the Australia Stakes at Moonee Valley, the bay equalling Miss Andretti’s longstanding track record over 1200m at the venue in the process.
While Bart was beaten by two lengths and lacked the mid-race speed to match Malaguerra on that occasion, there are reasons to believe he can turn the tables on Saturday.
Caulfield is a venue he has performed with distinction at in the past based on top-level wins in both the Memsie and Underwood during his last preparation, while Malaguerra remains winless there and has generally saved his best racing for Flemington.
The step up to 1400m appears more to Bart’s liking and recent history also favours the ex-West Australian with both Dissident (2015) and Moment of Change (2014) able to atone for surprise defeats at the Valley in this race.
Seasoned sprinter/miler Lucky Hussler (pictured at top) returns to Caulfield for the first time since a luckless second to Suavito 12 months ago and might be our best hope of getting the leading duo beaten.
Tightened for room for much of the straight as Glen Boss repeatedly ran into dead-ends, the former Toorak winner only saw daylight in the final 100m and hammered the line.
Ironically, it was much the same story on the Gold Coast recently where he was buffeted around the corner and badly held-up before getting to the outside and finding the line strongly in the Magic Millions Cup.
There are no guarantees in racing but we’ve been fans of this horse for a while and hope he can find some clear running room at the right time to figure in the finish.
Caulfield Guineas winner Divine Prophet will carry 55.5kgs under the weight-for-age conditions as he attempts to emulate the achievements of the outstanding All Too Hard, who won the Orr as a three-year-old under the Hawkes banner back in 2013.
While we have a high opinion of this colt, he’s up against some pretty strong gallopers here and the fact that the weight advantage hasn’t proven as decisive as it once did gives us enough ammunition to take him on.
Of the others, Ecuador makes a rare appearance in Melbourne after a couple of nice efforts over the same 1400m journey in Sydney, most recently in the Carrington Stakes.
It’s hard to find fault with either of those wins but aside from a second-place finish to Winx in the 2015 Epsom, he has generally been found wanting at Group 1 level and this certainly isn’t easier than any of his previous assignments.
While the likes of Palentino and Jameka will find this a bit short of their preferred distance but look for them to be running on late.
Tips:
1. Lucky Hussler
2. Black Heart Bart
3. Divine Prophet
4. Malaguerra
