1 day Ago By Brent Godde
The $200,000 Albury Gold Cup, (2000m) is set to be the most open in more than a decade after the final field was declared on Tuesday. or signup to continue reading In what shapes as a fascinating betting race, the Chris Waller-trained duo Matusalem and Medatsu have been installed as the early $7 pre-post favourites. Both runners were set to target Albury's premier race last month before the meeting was postponed.
My Brothers Keeper from the Stephen Brown stable in Seymour is also quoted a $7-chance and is a last-start winner at Caulfield. Waller has previously won five Wagga Gold Cups but the champion Sydney trainer is yet to feature on the Albury Gold Cup honour roll after only a handful of previous attempts. Annabel Neasham who won the race last year with Fawkner Park is set to defend her Albury Gold Cup crown with a four-pronged attack in Naval College, Gear Up, Redstone Well and Jimi Hendrix.
Albury Racing Club CEO, Steve Hetherton, was delighted by not only the quality of the final field but also the quantity after a full-field of 16 runners plus two emergencies accepted. "It's great to see both Annabel and Waller support the cup with half-a-dozen runners between them," Hetherton said. "A few of them have drawn wide though, so it will be interesting to see if they still make the trip to Albury.
"But is saying that I can't recall too many horses that have been stuck wide in our cup, even when they do draw wide. "There is a race in Sydney on Saturday at Randwick that is similar to our cup and a few of the runners are dual nominations..
. so we will have to wait and see what happens there. "To get 18 acceptances, I think that is the most during my time as CEO of the club.
"The quality is also very pleasing with a good mix of country performed gallopers up against the city raiders and it should be an intriguing race betting-wise. "To have runners from the big Sydney stables like Waller, Neasham and Waterhouse just highlights that our cup is a sought after race that is on the radar of some of our biggest trainers. "It is an important race on the calendar, whether that is because of the lure of the Big Dance or the $200,000 prizemoney, those big stables want to get their name on the honour roll.
" Hetherton admitted he was unsure on how big a crowd the club could attract on Thursday with the perfect weather forecast of 26 degrees. "It's hard to predict..
. if I was having a guess it might be something similar to what we get during one of our bigger spring meetings," he said. "But you just don't know, the weather is going to be perfect and we are just hoping the public will support the club after the wretched luck we had last month and the cup being washed out.
" Gates open at 12.30pm on Thursday with the $200,000 feature set to jump at 4.40pm.
"We have got a few different things planned for the day," Hetherton said. "We have got a big Easter egg hunt for the kids with three different sessions throughout the day, hosted by Stevie Bowen. "We are still going to have Fashions on the Field with the people choices award worth $1000.
"We also have Melbourne based band Cherry Bomb performing in the beer garden and will also be playing after the last race. "There will be an after party at the course for patrons who may have to work on the day but still want to come out to the races after they finish work." Daily Today's top stories curated by our news team.
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