Italian stallion Voila Ici can break a two-year winless run in this afternoon's $200,000 Ipswich Cup and grab his first win since moving to Australia.
Photo by Racing and Sports
Nine runs since joining Peter Moody’s powerful Melbourne stable have netted just two minor placings for the eight-year-old but they’ve all been at Group level against some of the country’s leading stayers.
Today the ghostly grey drops back in grade to take up his easiest assignment since leaving his home country, and he looks perfectly placed to bring up a deserved win.
Not since the Group 1 Gran Premio Di Milano (2412m) at Milan on this weekend two years ago has Voila Ici saluted the judge.
More precisely that came more than 16,000km away and 734 days ago.
It also came on a dead track which is the likely surface Moody’s hardy stayer will face here.
On Timeform figures the front-running grey rates well clear of his modest Ipswich Cup rivals.
He produced a Timeform figure of 121 last start in the Eagle Farm Cup when finishing less than a length off Quintessential.
Recent history suggests Voila Ici will win the Ipswich Cup with a leg in the air if he runs to that figure again.
Last year’s winner Shenzhou Steeds ran to 106 to win the race. Kinnersley produced a figure of 108 in second spot, beaten half a length carrying 1.5kg more.
Shenzhou Steeds’ winning figure was a shade below the average winning figure of the last five years which is boosted somewhat by Our Lukas’ second Cup win which came in 2010 and produced a Timeform figure of 111.
That was the best performance by a winner since 1994 when Oompala ran to 113.
Darbaas, second placegetter in the 1997, produced a figure of 115 which remains the strongest performance in the race over the past two decades.
Another slice of history does go against Voila Ici however. Only five gallopers since 1992 have won the race carrying more the 54kg.
Our Lukas set the recent weight-carrying record in 2010 when he successfully defended his Cup under 56kg.
The Italian will have to set a weight-carrying record to win this race. Sharply currently holds that record after carrying 9 stone, 3 pounds to win in 1961, or 58.5kg in modern-day speak.
I think Voila Ici is up to the task however.
While the Australian leg of his career hasn’t yet yielded a great deal, he has certainly shown plenty of ability.
He ran to 123 when half a length off the eventual Cox Plate winner Ocean Park in last year’s Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m).
Next start he ran to 118 finishing less than two lengths behind last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Green Moon. That came in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington.
On both occasions Voila Ici set the tempo, which is how jockey Glen Colless is likely to ride him this afternoon from barrier 19.
The talented grey has won four of six starts over this journey and 13 of 37 in an impressive career.
Prior to his narrow third in the Eagle Farm Cup he was only 2.3L off Solzhenitsyn in the Lord Mayor’s Cup (1600m). He ran to 109 on that occasion in a slightly unsuitable race, and Solzhenitsyn’s 1.9L fifth in the Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) last weekend certainly did that form no harm.
From out in front down the short straight at Ipswich, I’d expect Voila Ici to grab a much-deserved Australian win.
There aren’t any standouts after Voila Ici, and it could be a pretty tight go for the minor placings.
I’m keeping the New Zealand mare High Kin safe.
She’s a lightly raced five-year-old by High Chaparral stepping out on Australian shores for the first time.
In 14 career starts she’s returned four wins and three minor placings, most recently running second in an open handicap at Te Rapa over 2100m carrying 59kg.
On weight-adjusted ratings, that returned a figure of 106 given she’s on the minimum in today’s Ipswich Cup.
She isn’t as credentialed as some of these but looks one with upside, and this shapes as her kind of race.
Veteran Queensland jockey Jim Byrne is holding an ace in Last year’s Adelaide Cup (3200m) winner Rialya.
Byrne is confident the five-year-old is ready to run a huge race following his seventh placing in the Group 3 Premier’s Cup (2200m) late last month, where he finished 2.5L adrift of Precedence. That run returned a figure of 101
He led to the 300m in that race and fought on solidly right to the end. Don’t be surprised if he takes it to Voila Ici from the outset.
Ginga Dude, Gold Cape and Bang On look best of the rest.
Enjoy a potentially history-making Ipswich Cup.
