Spring carnival action moves northwest today where David Hayes stayer Whisper Downs looks poised to claim the $100,000 Kyneton Cup.
The five-year-old son of Churchill Downs has progressed pretty nicely over the spring and looks ready to grab a deserved win against a modest bunch of stayers.
He’s fifth up into this race after finishing 1.5L off at Moonee Valley over 2040m 11 days ago running to a weight-adjusted Timeform figure of 111.
Under in-form jockey Chad Schofield, he settled a little bit far back and couldn’t quite muster enough of a sprint but this race looks to have a bit more pace in it which will definitely suit.
Importantly, the run let Hayes put a red line through his failure at Benalla in easier two back where he only beat home a couple of stragglers.
Prior to that he’d finished 3.8L off Out Of Coober at Caulfield over 1400m, and only 1.5L off Speediness in the Group 3 Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) resuming two months ago.
He has a superb record over the 2000m on offer today having won five times and placed on four occasions in 13 starts.
I’m expecting him to add to that record today.
It’s a very tricky race however, so Schofield will need to be careful from his slightly awkward gate 11.
Hurdy Gurdy Man looks the big danger after winning two of his last three.
His latest performance had him finishing half a length clear at Hamilton in open grade over 2200m, running to a weight-adjusted figure of 101.
That followed a fifth placing in the Group 3 David Jones Cup (2000m) at Caulfield where he was beaten 4.9L by the talented Spurtonic.
Hurdy Gurdy Man looks to have the most consistent form of this lot and he’ll be coming hard late on.
He’s won two of five at the trip and must be respected.
Anthony Freedman’s Cornell has a nice profile for a race like this, coming off a Horsham Cup (1800m) win 17 days ago.
He was ridden up on the speed, and kept finding all the way to the line to finish almost a length clear of Isopach.
The run netted a weight-adjusted Timeform figure of 107, and he still looks to have improvement up his sleeve this campaign.
Expect another bold performance.
Danny O’Brien’s Keep Cool is the other one to keep an eye on, dropping well back in grade.
He was beaten 11.1L by Araldo in the Listed Bart Cummings (2520m) a month ago after finishing seven lengths off Mr O’Ceirin in the Naturalism (2000m).
He’s been given time to freshen up off those two runs, and his form prior was pretty good.
Plus he’s a five-time winner at this journey.
It’s shaping as a very competitive Kyneton Cup.
