CIARON Maher hopes Marksmanship will deliver him a change in fortunes when the seven-year-old runs in the group 3 $300,000 Geelong Cup today.
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Maher’s warhorse galloper Moudre ran second to Americain in the 2010 Geelong Cup before running third behind Ibicenco last year, but the 33-year-old trainer is quietly confident Marksmanship can go better in the 2400-metre race.
“Moudre had no luck in either Geelong Cup start,” Maher said.
“He was beaten by the subsequent Melbourne Cup winner in 2010 and last year was in the wrong part of the track. I just hope we have a bit of luck today.
“Marksmanship has an ideal barrier draw. He’s an on-pace runner and appears to be well weighted.
“We could have run him in the Moonee Valley Cup on Saturday but it’s a set weights and penalty race, which never suited us. The Geelong Cup was the better option.”
From his seven starts for Maher, Marksmanship has notched up wins at Cranbourne, Caulfield and Flemington before running minor placings in the Bart Cummings and Heatherlie handicaps.
“Marksmanship is still in the Melbourne Cup entries but we are not getting in front of ourselves. We’ve got to run well in the Geelong Cup,” Maher said.
“He’s still a long way down in the entries for the Melbourne Cup. It’s all about the old saying, one run at a time.
“Marksmanship’s regular rider Michelle Payne had been booked to ride Zanbagh for her brother Patrick so we picked up Kerrin McEvoy, which is great. I’ve already had a chat to Kerrin about how to ride the horse.”
Maher has been forced to cancel a trip to the Autumn Horses In Training Sale at Newmarket in England on Saturday night because of busy spring carnival commitments for his stable.
The sale is held from October 27 to October 30.
“I was looking forward to going to England but I’ve had to cancel the ticket,” Maher said.
“It looks like we’ll have Light Up Manhattan running in the Victoria Derby and Set Square in the Oaks so I need to be at home.
“Both are group 1 races and I’m happy with how both horses are progressing. We’ve got a few other horses earmarked for the four-day carnival at Flemington.”
The $1.5 million Victoria Derby is run on November 1 while the $1 million Crown Oaks is on November 6.