The VOBIS Platinum Showdown has not traditionally been a target race for Godolphin and trainer James Cummings. In the six previous editions of the race, restricted to two-year-olds sired by Victorian-based stallions, Cummings has only started two horses—Arcaded and Sliders, both by Street Boss, who finished fifth and 11th respectively in the 2021 edition. Both have since been retired and are now broodmares.

This year, Godolphin will have three representatives—Chergui, Cloisters, and Cryoseisms—all sired by Frosted. Melbourne-based Godolphin assistant trainer Nacim Dilmi said the VOBIS Platinum Showdown, with its $1 million prize money, has now become a target race. “We’re quite lucky to have the facilities in Melbourne and where we breed horses in Victoria as well,” Dilmi said. “It’s a great initiative for breeders to have horses bred in Victoria to run for such good prize money. It’s great for us, and I would say we’ll be targeting the race every year.”

Cloisters is the best performed of the trio, having started his career with second placings at Cranbourne and Pakenham before securing a maiden win over 1300m at Bendigo last month. Jamie Melham will ride the colt, having partnered him in a recent jump-out at Flemington. “He’s actually quite deceiving,” Dilmi said. “At home, he will only do what he is asked to do, but once he’s asked to quicken, he really gets his mind on the job and does it quite easily. He was tough at Bendigo when he broke his maiden.”

Chergui, who did most of his early work in Melbourne before heading to Sydney for two starts, returned to Melbourne for his most recent run, finishing fourth in the Listed Festival Stakes (1000m) at Flemington on March 1. Dilmi said the stable expected more from the colt that day. “He pulled up great from the run, but just whether it was his first time up the straight, we thought he might run better,” Dilmi said. “He galloped well at Caulfield on Tuesday, so the signs are positive.”

Cryoseisms, a son of Earthquake—who won the 2014 Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield—is set to make his Melbourne debut after two unplaced runs in Sydney. “He was in Victoria at the start of this prep before we sent him to NSW,” Dilmi said. “He raced at Canterbury last time and was OK, and I would say he will benefit from the travel from Melbourne to Sydney and back again.”