By Dane Squance
With 10 of the 14 acceptors in Saturday's A$1-million G1 Darley Classic (1200m) at Flemington having last raced in either the G1 Manikato S. (1200m) at Moonee Valley on Oct. 27 or Royal Randwick's A$10-million The Everest on Oct. 14, the fresh horse on the scene is Godolphin's 4-year-old Impending (Aus) (Lonhro {Aus}).
Ending his 3-year-old season with victory in the G1 Stradbroke H. at Doomben on Jun. 10 where he defeated fellow Darley Classic runner In Her Time (Aus) (Time Thief {Aus}), that pair ran the one-two, albeit in the reverse order, in the Listed Sydney S. (1200M) on Everest day at Randwick.
In Her Time has since raced again, finishing a narrow second in Moonee Valley's Manikato S. behind Hey Doc (Aus) (Duporth {Aus}), while Impending has been ticking over nicely with this race appearing his main target. With neither runner having faced the Flemington 1200m before, and although Impending's second up record is slightly poor, a win would further cement Impending's position as a stallion upon his racetrack retirement.
The Everest winner Redzel (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) has won eight of his past 11 starts along with two photo-finish second placed performance, and there is no reason why the Peter and Paul Snowden-trained 5-year-old couldn't take the prize here. A winner 12 months prior at the track in the Listed GH Mumm S. (1000m), Redzel has the straight track experience and with three wins from five starts at the distance, jockey Kerrin McEvoy could add another Group 1 win to his resume.
Chautauqua (Aus) (Encosta de Lago {Aus}), a controversial scratching behind the barriers before the start of the Manikato S., has great form at the track and distance, never finishing out of the top three in seven starts, and although none of those wins have been at Group 1 level, the 'grey flash' has an affiliation with the track and can't be discounted at all.
Every horse is allowed a bad run, and we will go with the fact that last start in the Manikato, Vega Magic (Aus) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) had that day. His start prior in The Everest was outstanding when closing late for second, and with nine wins at 1200m, the David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig-trained runner should be running on late.
Another from the Hayes family training partnership that holds a chance is the 7-year-old Redkirk Warrior (GB) (Notnowcato {GB}). His last two Flemington 1200m starts resulted in a two length G1 Newmarket H. win in March and a 2 1/2-length romp in the G2 Bobbie Lewis first-up this campaign on Sept. 16.
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