JARROD McLean has opted to run Cougar Express in the $150,000 Sandown Cup on Saturday, instead of a $50,000 restricted race at Moonee Valley on Friday night, as the eight-year-old tries to win a spot in the $300,000 Jericho Cup field at Warrnambool on December 2.
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Cougar Express was handicapped to carry 66 kilograms at the Valley but with a two-kilogram claim for apprentice jockey Fred Kersley, he would have carried 64kgs in the 3000-metre race.
McLean said Cougar Express’ owners were worried with the huge weight impost at the Valley.
“We (owners) had a long talk about our options,” he said.
“We want to run in the Jericho and we’ve got to get points. We’re just hoping we may pick up a point or two running in the Sandown Cup as there are a few international horses and they are ineligible for the Jericho.
“We’re having a real throw at the stumps by running in the Sandown Cup but we thought it was our best option.”
This year’s Warrnambool Grand Annual Steeplechase winner Gold Medals, who looks a certain starter for Symon Wilde in the Jericho Cup, also runs in the Sandown Cup.
The inaugural running of the Jericho Cup will be run on the flat over 4600 metres.
It honours the heroic servicemen and their magnificent mounts, The Walers, for their heroic deeds in the Middle East from 1915-1919.
