If you build it, they will come.
While crowds are often sparse for run of the mill race meetings in Adelaide that’s certainly not the case on Cup day which, along with the state’s group one race days in May, are the pinnacle of the sport in the South Australian capital.
Yesterday (Monday) was no exception. Okay, it’s not Flemington on Derby Day or Randwick on Everest day, but as a public holiday in SA at a time when the sun is invariably shining, the party atmosphere and goodwill is as evident at Morphetville as it is anywhere – with seemingly far fewer folk getting what might be politely termed as ”a bit messy”.
The Cup remains one of the rare 3200 metre contests in the Australian racing calendar, although its status as a group 2 event might be seen as rather generous given the quality of the race these days: only the top two on the racecard – the Victorian trained Berkley Square and the NSW raider Newfoundland – came in with ratings above 90.
But to its credit the SAJC and Racing SA usually manages to attract a full field of 18 for the staying centrepiece of the Adelaide racing year and while it no longer attracts the top liners, it provides a competitive centrepiece to a quality day of racing.
Could it ever get back to where it once was, when horses like Melbourne Cup winner Subzero took the Adelaide race en route to glory at Flemington later in the year and that grand old Lloyd Williams owned stayer Gallic landed the Adelaide and Sydney Cups double?
Given the prizemoney on offer it’s unlikely: this year’s renewal carried a total of $350,000 in prizemoney, with the winner taking home $191,000 for victory in the group two contest. Yes, it’s a sum that is not to be sneezed at, but in reality winning many pop up races of lesser status or listed or restricted races in Sydney could net an owner more.
It’s a long shot, but if there was ever a way to make a race like the Adelaide Cup a target for top class stayers – or even many more useful handicappers like Berkely Square (who had a rating of 107 going into the race) it would be to offer the winner a run in the Melbourne Cup, similar to the prize on offer for winning the Andrew Ramsden Stakes, the Bart Cummings or the Roy Higgins, all run at Flemington.
And shifting it back to where it used to be, as the highlight of the May Adelaide Carnival, would probably help trainers with their preparation for the following spring, although it might be a hard sell for the club, who this year welcomed one of their biggest crowds in years.
Still, there would surely be more likelihood of a higher class Adelaide Cup winner taking his chance in Australia’s greatest race than the winner of a race like the Belmont Cup at Saratoga – an overseas race that gives the winner a ”golden ticket” to the Cup.
Such an initiative would boost local interest in the race – particularly if an SA trained horse won it’s local Cup – perhaps give local trainers an extra incentive to prepare staying horses and make life slightly easier for form students who would at least have more of an idea about that runner’s capabilities!
Yesterday’s race produced an epic contest as the Phillip Stokes trained Highland Bling and the Trent and Natalie Busuttin prepared American Wolf waged a two horse battle down the straight with the lead changing several times as first one horse, then the other, got their head in front.
In the end it was Jett Stanley aboard the $23 chance American Wolf who got the all important bob on the line to deny Lachlan Neindorf, one of SA’s leading riders who is now plying his trade in Victoria, a hometown Cup.
The after race drama came seconds after the pair had crossed the line when Stanley was ejected from the saddle by the winner. Fortunately the young jockey came to no harm and ran back towards the grandstand, waving in triumph to racegoers, before being reunited with American Wolf.
The winner, a son of Tivaci, was a triumph of old fashioned training by the husband and wife Busuttin team who knew that stamina was their horse’s strong suit, given that he had won the 2800 metre VRC St Leger in April of last year.
American Wolf had resumed in early December in a benchmark handicap at Caulfield and built the miles in his legs through four other races in which the distances were progressively stepped up. When it came to the crunch he had the toughness and dourness to not only run the 3200 metres out well but battle back in the closing stages when headed.
Now both of these horses are far too lowly rated to get into the Melbourne Cup off their current marks (72 for American Wolf, 79 for Highland Bling) and if the Adelaide Cup was a more valuable race with a higher class entry then it would be unlikely that either would have won.
But these are exactly the type of runners who, with seven or eight months more experience and natural improvement (Highland Bling is a relatively lightly raced five year old while American Wolf is a year younger) who might have made the Cup field in years gone by.
As it stands their only likely hope of making the greatest day in the Australian calendar is if they could win one of the Flemington ”golden ticket” races in the next few months – and both would have to show improvement to do so.
Still, the emotions for winning such an historic race run high – and none more so than for winning rider Stanley, who is hoping to build on recent successes when he rides Jenni The Fox in the Coolmore Classic on Saturday for owner Tony Ottobre and trainer Ciaron Maher.
“I won the Launceston Cup last week, a group 3, now a group 2, so I hope I can win a group 1 next,” he said as he savoured the biggest win of his career to date.
Former SA based superstar rider Jamie Melham rode a treble to keep her legion of local fans happy, scoring on Mathematician for Will Clarken and later on the Godolphin speedster Celerity , finishing up in the last on the well backed Arran Bay for Phillip Stokes.
Adelaide apprentice Brooke King had a Cup day to remember after notching a double on Brown Nose Day Gal and Just A Brother. Bootlegger showed plenty of guts to land the Morphetville Guineas for Irish rider Emily Finnigan.
