Winx trainer Chris Waller saddles-up four livewire chances in a capacity 2017 Toorak Handicap field this weekend at Caulfield Racecourse.
Epsom Handicap runner-up Tom Melbourne is one of four Chris Waller-trained mares in the 2017 Toorak Handicap field at Caulfield on Saturday. Photo: Steve Hart.
Scheduled as the penultimate event on the 10 race card for Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas Day, this season’s Group 1 $500,000 Toorak Handicap (1600m) has 18 confirmed runners plus a sole emergency in Mask Of Time (1) from the British stables of Hugo Palmer.
Waller chases his first Toorak Handicap success this Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival and has a strong line-up of in-form stablemates set for the mile feature.
After missing out on a run in the Group 1 Epsom Handicap (1600m) back home at Randwick on September 30 due to eye irritation, Sebring mare Egg Tart has her rescheduled Group 1 mile run this weekend in Melbourne.
Winner of the Schweppes Oaks – Queensland Oaks double last season as a three-year-old filly, Egg Tart returned on September 9 running a distant four lengths back for second behind Deploy in the Group 2 Theo Marks Stakes (1300m).
She is set to improve getting out over more metres second-up and is undefeated over the 1600m (2-2-0-0).
Egg Tart has Damien Oliver aboard and will start from barrier eight if the emergency fails to run.
Waller didn’t win the Epsom Handicap in 2017, but he did prepare second past the post with his import Tom Melbourne who backs-up at Caulfield.
The seven-year-old has raced at the track five times for two seconds and is a perennial runner-up who just doesn’t seem to know how to win.
In his four runs this prep Tom Melbourne has placed second ever time and goes up from 52kg in the Epsom to a more testing 55kg with a wide barrier 15 gate to boot on Saturday.
Waller’s two other Toorak Handicap horses are Comin’ Through (53.5kg) who won the Group 3 Bill Ritchie Handicap two back before his Epsom sixth and four-year-old High Chaparral mare Omei Sword (52kg) drawn in barriers four and five respectively.
Omei Sword was last seen running an improved third when just over a length off the winner Daysee Doom and runner-up Dixie Blossoms in the Group 2 Golden Pendant Stakes (1400m).
Those two Ron Quinton-trained mares went on to run the quinella again, but in reverse order, last Saturday in Randwick’s Group 3 Angst Stakes (1600m) and Omei Sword will relish a five kilo drop in weight from her last start.
Last year’s Toorak Handicap winning stable, Lindsay Park, dominate the race numbers-wise this year looking to prepare back-to-back winners in the event.
It is a trend that has held in the past half a decade with Solzhenitsyn (2012-13) winning successive editions for Robert Heathcote before Darren Weir enjoyed two wins on the trot with Trust In A Gust (2014) and Lucky Hussler (2015).
The six-horse David Hayes-led Lindsay Park contingent is made up of: Seaburge, He Or She, Petrology, Jaquinot Bay, Sovereign Nation and Snitzon.
Of those the most likely to salute is Snitzon coming off a third to Happy Clapper in the Epsom Handicap.
Other key Toorak Handicap runners this spring include the Weir-trained top weight Tosen Stardom (57.5kg), Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes third placegetter So Si Bon (52kg) in the outside barrier and last start Group 2 Stocks Stakes winning mare I Am A Star (54.5kg).
See below for the full Toorak Handicap 2017 field, barriers, jockeys and weights with updated markets set to open shortly at Ladbrokes.com.au.
2017 Toorak Handicap Final Field & Barrier Draw
Caulfield Race 9 (5:10pm) – 14/10/2017
| # | Form (Last 10) | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Barrier | Weight | H. Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9x4x22x536 | TOSEN STARDOM (JPN) | Darren Weir | Damian Lane | 16 | 57.5kg | 109 |
| 2 | x37x525272 | KASPERSKY (IRE) | Jane Chapple-Hyam | Luke Nolen | 3 | 56kg | 106 |
| 3 | 282x060x00 | SEABURGE | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Mark Zahra | 12 | 55kg | 104 |
| 4 | x6905x2222 | TOM MELBOURNE (IRE) | Chris Waller | Glen Boss | 15 | 55kg | 104 |
| 5 | 590x160x60 | HE OR SHE | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Dwayne Dunn | 18 | 54.5kg | 103 |
| 6 | 71183×4771 | I AM A STAR (NZ) | Shane Nichols | Ben Melham | 14 | 54.5kg | 107 |
| 7 | 18x3010x36 | TURNITAROUND | Matthew Williams | Ben Thompson (a) | 2 | 54.5kg | 103 |
| 8 | 1x5338x116 | COMIN’ THROUGH | Chris Waller | Michael Walker | 4 | 53.5kg | 101 |
| 9 | 31x11111x2 | EGG TART | Chris Waller | Damien Oliver | 9 | 53.5kg | 105 |
| 10 | 413311×122 | MR SNEAKY | Anthony Freedman | Dean Yendall | 8 | 52.5kg | 99 |
| 11 | x12x27x563 | OMEI SWORD | Chris Waller | Stephen Baster | 5 | 52kg | 102 |
| 12 | 14173×5463 | SNITZSON | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Cory Parish | 10 | 52kg | 98 |
| 13 | 4030×22833 | SO SI BON | Robbie Laing | Craig Newitt | 19 | 52kg | 97 |
| 14 | 3276×15314 | SOVEREIGN NATION | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Beau Mertens (a) | 17 | 52kg | 97 |
| 15 | 41212×2215 | THEANSWERMYFRIEND | Robert Smerdon | Michael Dee | 6 | 52kg | 96 |
| 16 | x683219838 | PETROLOGY | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Chris Parnham | 13 | 52kg | 93 |
| 17 | 8940534433 | JACQUINOT BAY | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Ben Allen (a) | 11 | 52kg | 92 |
| 18 | 53510×6822 | WYNDSPELLE (NZ) | Michael Kent | TBA | 7 | 52kg | 92 |
| 19e | 4x3131456x | MASK OF TIME (IRE) | Hugo Palmer | TBA | 1 | 52kg | 91 |
