Locally trained stayer Lord Fandango is primed for a home town victory in the 2018 Listed $350,000 Ballarat Cup (2200m) at Ballarat on Saturday.
Lord Fandango, above, is primed for a home town victory in the 2018 Ballarat Cup at Ballarat. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Lord Fandango is coming off some handy Spring Carnival form and Ballarat trainer Archie Alexander would love to hold up the winning trophy in front of his home crowd.
“It would be amazing to win a Ballarat Cup,” Alexander told racing.com.
“I think after the Melbourne Cup and maybe the Caulfield Cup it’s probably the Cup we want to win most.
“I’ve always trained here at Ballarat, it’s home.
“Lord Fandango has been in tough races for a year-and-a-half now.
“Coming back from a Group 2 to a Listed race is always the way you’d like to go and that is going to help him.”
Lord Fandango finished fourth two starts back in the Group 3 $350,000 Jayco Bendigo Cup (2400m) at Bendigo on October 31 and then rounded off his Ballarat Cup preparation with a fourth to The Taj Mahal in the Group 2 $300,000 Quayclean Zipping Classic (2400m) at Ladbrokes Park at Sandown last Saturday.
“I thought it was a good run (last Saturday in the Zipping Classic) and the first two horses were very tough and they probably had things a little bit their own way, they were two good rides in front and made it hard for everyone in behind to catch up,” Alexander said..
“He’s just had a light week this week, it was quite a tough run for him and it should put him in good shape for the Ballarat Cup dropping back 200m.”
Alexander has put the blinkers back on Lord Fandango with Jordan Childs taking over the reins from John Allen and the six year old looks likely to move in one spot in the barriers to gate fourteen with one of the three early scratching drawn inside of him in the original barrier draw.
Lord Fandango has drifted in the betting for the Ballarat Cup and is now marked at $13 with Ladbrokes.com.au while the Darren Weir trained Lucky For All is the ruling favourite at $4.20.
Jye McNeil has gained the ride on Lucky For All who has drawn barrier ten and the four year old is one of six runners Weir will saddle up in the 2018 Ballarat Cup.
Weir’s other Ballarat Cup runners after the early scratching of Top Prospect are Another Coldie (Ethan Brown, barrier 1), Tradesman (Jamie Mott, barrier 5), Kiwia (John Allen, barrier 13), Andrea Mantegna (Jarrod Lorensini, barrier 6), and Master Zephyr (Deaan Yendall, barrier 16).
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