Five talking points: Everest form to the fore

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The feature meetings in both New South Wales and Victoria were held away from the main tracks with Newcastle and Cranbourne hosting their feature days. In Newcastle it was the $1 million dollar Hunter whilst Cranbourne hosted their listed Cup as the feature.

1. Everest form to the fore

A quality field lined up for the third running of The Hunter with Lost And Running the short priced favourite getting the job done in dominant fashion. After running a brave 4th in The Everest before 2nd in the Classique Legend, the five-year-old had the right form lines to take out The Hunter. Top Ranked made his Australian debut with some world class form lines but looked a little one paced in the straight. He looks like a top chance in a race like the Doncaster Mile in the Autumn or even a Queen Elizabeth. For Lost And Running, he’ll head for a nice break now ahead of a light Autumn preparation before coming back for another tilt at The Everest next year.

2. Magnus the King of Cranbourne 

After running a slashing race in the Group 1 Cantala it was no surprise to see King Magnus claim the Cranbourne Cup a fortnight on. However, the query on him and many others in the field was whether they would handle the Heavy 10 and he seemed to get through it swimmingly taking out the cup for local trainers Robbie Griffiths & Matthew de Kock. He’s a horse who has risen through the grades and has been up for the best part of 12 months. He now heads for a well earned break with connections dreaming of a potential crack at an All-Star Mile in the Autumn at Flemington. 

3. Cranbourne meeting almost called off

Earlier in the day the possibility of running the Cranbourne Cup was decreasing by the hour with the track being downgraded to a Heavy 10 at 10.20am. There were major concerns after the running of the first couple of races with both Damian Lane and Patrick Moloney displaying some doubt the meeting would go ahead after riding the winners of the first two races. However, the predicted rain held off and the track played very fairly with the likes of Dexelation being able to win from last. 

Damian Lane has doubts about the meeting continuing at Cranbourne. 😢 pic.twitter.com/vH2FZ3NWgp

— Racing.com (@Racing) November 13, 2021

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4. Festival Dancer and Dylan Gibbons combine for memorable Group 3 

It was the fairytale story of the day with young apprentice Dylan Gibbons claiming his first metro winner in a Group 3. The 20-year-old went straight to the front on the smart filly and never looked back, beating home War Eternal by two and a half lengths. It was a one off opportunity in town for the young jock who will continue to work through the grades at provincial level with his claim. 

5. Mankayan turns into punters pals after run of placings 

After running 2nd seven of his past eight runs, the former international galloper finally broke through for his third win. He loomed up like he was going to go on and win by three or four lengths before having a good hard think about it. Josh Richards got down and pushed him home by the smallest of margins with the 3kg claim all important in the final bounds. It was a well deserved victory for the ever consistent Mankayan who turned into the punters pal on Saturday.

Looking ahead to next weekend…

New South Wales plays host to another $1 million dollar race in The Gong which will be run at Kembla Grange. Whilst in Victoria, the racing heads to Ballarat for their Cup day with the Magic Millions Classic for two-year-olds also on the card. 

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