With the Brisbane carnival now behind us and temperatures steadily dropping, attention switches back to Melbourne this weekend for Flemington Finals Day with tenacious miler Jacquinot Bay amongst the leading challengers for the Winter Championship (Race 7) over 1600m.
The ex-Canberra Cup winner has had a racing career of two distinct halves, initially campaigning successfully under Guy Walter before transferring south to the Hayes-Dabernig stable following Walter’s untimely passing in 2014.
He does, however, bring winning form into this having saluted over seven furlongs on this course at his only two starts this preparation, most recently in the Brian Beattie Handicap where he held off By The Grace over the concluding stages.
Jockey Michael Walker noted that the 60kgs is unlikely to prove too much of a distraction for a horse who has grown accustomed to carrying that kind of weight (Chris Waller’s Amovatio lumped an identical weight to victory in this event 12 months ago).
Despite drawing out in gate 11, our traders are expecting him to push forward and give a bold sight, although it’s possible to make a case for a number of other runners in what presents as an extremely even field.
