It’s an exciting time for the Werribee racing community with its main day just around the corner.
The Werribee Cup is set to run on Sunday with $150,000 prize money up for grabs. The 2000 metre race has been won by famous horses in the past such as Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva. The mare won the race in 2002 before going on to win a three-peat of Melbourne Cups.
While last year’s winner, Vardani, may not be living up to the heights of Makybe Diva, trainer Archie Alexander said the cup was a great race to win.
“He’s been a horse we’d always liked and respected and had a good opinion of but he’s been a little bit out of form and he needed drier tracks and that’s what he got,” he said.
“Those country cups, whether it’s Werribee, Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, they’re all feature cups that people want to win and you remember them and owners remember them, the prize money’s good.
“It was a special win and as a trainer one day you’d like to tick off every cup in the countryside at least.”
Alexander said Vardani won’t be featuring at Werribee this weekend to defend his cup win but he is hoping Vardani or one of his stablemates can head back down the highway in the years to come.
“I know there’s a fair history with every cup but you just try to find the most suitable race for your horse. It’s got to be worth the while for your owners to be investing in horses to go into a race and the Werribee Cup is certainly a race where the prize money on offer is good enough.
“The Werribee Cup is very appealing to be aiming a horse at and it’s even better if you can pull it off and win it.
“It’s certainly a race in the next few years that we’d like to come back and try to win it again.”
It’s been tough going for Vardani since last year’s win, with him failing to register another one in his four runs this year. Most recently he ran second last in the Victorian Country Cups Final at Caulfield on November 18.
“He hasn’t had the luck of the draw this year. He started his prep well, then he got a little bit sick he had a high temperature and hasn’t been at his best but hopefully he can find his form back and he’s probably a length or two off a Werribee Cup this year the ways he’s going but hopefully he finds his winning form again,” Alexander said.
“He’s a very handy horse, he’s been a good horse to the stable and he’s won at Moonee Valley, he’s obviously won a Werribee Cup and he’s not finished yet.”
– Harper Sercombe
