Geelong Cup 2017 nominations for next Wednesday’s Melbourne Cup lead-up are now out with 14 of the 23 early entries also in the mix for the ‘race that stops a nation’ on the first Tuesday of November.
Sir Isaac Newton is accepted for Saturday’s Caulfield Cup field and nominated for the 2017 Geelong Cup five days later. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
The Group 3 $300,000 Geelong Cup (2400m) has produced a number of Melbourne Cup winners over the years including successful international raiders: Media Puzzle (2002), Americain (2010) and Dunaden (2011) all completing the double.
This season the Geelong Cup nominations are full of stayers chasing a run in the Group 1 $6.2 million Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) on November 7 at Flemington.
The current shortest-priced Geelong Cup nominee in futures Melbourne Cup betting at Ladbrokes.com.au is imported Galileo six-year-old Sir Isaac Newton ($51).
Sir Isaac Newton is one of seven entered for the midweek clash by trainer Robert Hickmott and five-time Melbourne Cup winning owner Lloyd Williams, but is an unlikely final acceptor.
Instead the galloper is drawn the outside barrier (17 of 17) in the Group 1 $3 million Caulfield Cup (2400m) this Saturday paying a roughie’s price of $51 to improve on his seventh in the same race last spring.
Sir Isaac Newton is also already assured of a start in the capacity 24-starter Melbourne Cup field should connections go that way sitting 20th on the order of entry.
Also inside the top 24 on the Melbourne Cup ballot are fellow Geelong Cup entries Wicklow Brave (18th), Bondi Beach (21st) and the 2016 Sydney Cup winner Gallante (24th) who is right on the cusp.
2017 Geelong Cup Nominees: Where They Sit on Melbourne Cup Ballot
- Wicklow Brave 18th (54kg)
- Sir Isaac Newton 20th (54kg)
- Bondi Beach 21st (54kg)
- Gallante 24th (53kg)
- Assign 29th (53kg)
- Lizzie L’Amour 31st (51.5kg)
- Aloft 34th (51.5kg)
- Foundry 36th (51kg includes 1kg penalty)
- Berisha =37th (50.5kg)
- Fanatic 40th (50kg)
- Gallic Chieftain 44th (50kg)
- Vengeur Masque 45th (50kg)
- Kellstorm 46th (50kg)
- Boom Time =50th (52kg)
Wicklow Brave is another Caulfield Cup acceptor thrown into the Geelong Cup nominations, the Williams Mullins-trained Irish raider out to be the first nine-year-old winner of Saturday’s race in history.
The third and final confirmed Caulfield Cup contender this weekend entered for a possible five day turnaround into the Geelong Cup field is the Lindsay Park-trained Boom Time.
The Flying Spur entire was last seen running fourth in the Group 2 Ladbrokes Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) and is an outsider in Caulfield Cup betting through Ladbrokes.com.au.
Outside of Sir Isaac Newton the other bet in early Melbourne Cup odds heading towards the Geelong Cup is the Darren Weir-trained Kellstorm ($67) last seen running third to Caulfield Cup fancy Amelie’s Star in Flemington’s Group 3 The Bart Cummings (2500m).
The other Hickmott-trained, Williams-owned Geelong Cup nominations this spring meanwhile are: Aloft, Assign, Foundry, Gallante and Our Century.
Standouts among the stablemates include seven-year-old Assign last seen running fourth to Winx in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes and eight-year-old Foundry who won Sydney’s Group 1 The Metropolitan (2400m) before finishing dead last walking home in the Herbert Power Stakes.
Check out the official Geelong Cup 2017 nominations below, the final field set for release on Monday, before heading to Ladbrokes.com.au for all the best spring racing odds and offers.
2017 Geelong Cup Nominations
Geelong Racecourse – 25/10/2017
| # | Form (Last 10) | Horse | Sex | Age | Trainer | H. Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | x39x12x139 | ALOFT (IRE) | G | 6 | Robert Hickmott | 100 |
| 2 | 9210x71x04 | ASSIGN (IRE) | G | 7 | Robert Hickmott | 104 |
| 3 | x073x00002 | BERISHA | G | 6 | Robert Smerdon | 98 |
| 4 | x11x330x90 | BONDI BEACH (IRE) | G | 6 | Robert Hickmott | 104 |
| 5 | 16510×3934 | BOOM TIME | H | 6 | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | 102 |
| 6 | 9009370962 | CRAFTY CRUISER | G | 10 | Bryce Stanaway | 70 |
| 7 | 84260×5046 | FANATIC (NZ) | M | 5 | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | 90 |
| 8 | 30x33x2410 | FOUNDRY (IRE) | H | 8 | Robert Hickmott | 101 |
| 9 | x031x270x0 | GALLANTE (IRE) | G | 7 | Robert Hickmott | 101 |
| 10 | 1x3811x763 | GALLIC CHIEFTAIN (FR) | H | 5 | Darren Weir | 95 |
| 11 | 0x076x0703 | GREY LION (IRE) | H | 6 | Matt Cumani | 93 |
| 12 | 10×3173551 | KAWABATA | M | 6 | Jamie Edwards | 75 |
| 13 | x173511163 | KELLSTORM (IRE) | H | 5 | Darren Weir | 86 |
| 14 | 151021×760 | LIZZIE L’AMOUR (NZ) | M | 5 | Murray Baker & Andrew Forsman | 104 |
| 15 | 0x770x0060 | MAGICOOL | G | 6 | Tony Romeo | 84 |
| 16 | 513x412x04 | OUR CENTURY (IRE) | G | 7 | Robert Hickmott | 93 |
| 17 | 6433×70033 | SETTLER’S STONE | G | 6 | Troy Blacker | 82 |
| 18 | 3311×32211 | SIN TO WIN (NZ) | G | 5 | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | 83 |
| 19 | 4407x5x865 | SIR ISAAC NEWTON (GB) | G | 6 | Robert Hickmott | 104 |
| 20 | 82x542x998 | VENGEUR MASQUE (IRE) | G | 6 | Michael Moroney | 89 |
| 21 | 2434×48321 | VIOLATE | H | 4 | Brent Stanley | 81 |
| 22 | 1513059×11 | WHEAL LEISURE | M | 4 | Archie Alexander | 80 |
| 23 | 10×8142444 | WICKLOW BRAVE (GB) | G | 9 | William Mullins | 106 |
