Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare ready to resume in Australian Cup
Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare will attempt to join an elite group when he kicks-off a history-chasing campaign in the Australian Cup at his favourite track.
SuperRacing
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Danny O’Brien will trade on Vow And Declare’s strengths – extraordinary aerobic capacity and a proven affinity with Flemington – as the young stayer embarks on a history-chasing campaign.
Responsible for thwarting a formidable international challenge in last year’s Melbourne Cup, Vow And Declare will resume in Saturday week’s Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) at Flemington as the stepping stone to a six-month campaign.
“He’s ready to kick off,” O’Brien said.
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“We were originally going to wait until the Queen Elizabeth (Stakes) in five weeks’ time but the race (Australian Cup) is here on his home track and it would be nice to get a run under his belt before he got on the road. He’s had a good base, he’s ready to run.”
Fitted by a recent Cranbourne trial and Flemington jump-out, Vow and Declare will attempt to join an elite group of gallopers to have won the Melbourne and Australian Cups.
Makybe Diva, Saintly and Let’s Elope are among the group.
O’Brien will again use a long, measured program to season Vow And Declare for his Cup defence on November 3, with a return to Queensland for up to three races in the mix.
“He’ll run here in the Australian Cup and his last run will be the (2020) Melbourne Cup so he’ll have about six runs before the Melbourne Cup,” O’Brien said. “His first-up run will be in the first Saturday of March, his last run will be in the first Tuesday in November.
“After the Australian Cup and Queen Elizabeth, he’ll then he’ll go up to Queensland for the Doomben Cup and the new weight-for-age race they’ve got, which is the Q22.
“And then potentially defend the Tatts Cup from last year and then he’d be back to run in either the Turnbull (Stakes) or the Caulfield Cup on his way to the Melbourne Cup.”
O’Brien started Vow And Declare three times in Queensland last year for a Tatts Cup win and Queensland Derby second.
Renowned for his incredible natural fitness, the gelding has maintained impressive condition over the summer at O’Brien’s Thirteenth Beach property.
“He certainly enjoys the beach over summer, it keeps him in good shape for when he comes back to the races,” O’Brien said. “We’re very happy with him
“He was only a young horse when he won the Cup, he’d only just turned four. Generally, those sorts of horses have still got improvement to come.
“He’s a bit bigger and a bit stronger now and he’s coming back here to a track he loves. He’s run at Flemington three times for two wins and a third and he just loves the track.
“He trialled here last week (over 1200m) from the 2000m mark and he was very happy to get back on the track and I’m sure he’ll be happy when we put the saddle on him on Saturday week.
“He’s in for hopefully a good campaign. That’s exactly what we did with him last year, we just kept ticking him over. And it worked well with him and there’s no reason to change.”