Australian Racing: Chartres ready to complete Cup treble

There are eight meetings scheduled to take place across the country on Sunday and we have three tips covering the action at Kilmore, Canberra and Narromine.

They also race at Bunbury, Hobart, Strathalbyn, Sunshine Coast and Swan Hill.

Race 8 Kilmore

Chartres @ 6.00

Race 6 Canberra

Battleton @ 4.80

Race 7 Narromine

Sea Of Flames @ 4.00

Kilmore Cup glory awaits Chartres

The bet365 Kilmore Cup is the feature race on the Kilmore card with the race set to take place over 1600m as the eighth race on a nine-race card.

Nugget has been performing at a higher level since being freshened following a seventh in Eagle Farm’s Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap in June.

Two of the gelding’s four subsequent starts have come in Group 1 events, with the other two coming at Group 2 level.

The pick of those four efforts is undoubtedly the eight-year-old’s third when contesting the Group 2 Crystal Mile over 1600m at Moonee Valley last month.

Ciaron Maher’s representative arrives here on the back of a last-place finish in the Group 1 Champions Stakes at Flemington just over two weeks ago.

This looks a much easier contest however and, while he shoulders top weight, he rates highly in this event.

The concession of six kilograms to CHARTRES is expected to prove too much here, however, with Matt Laurie’s gelding arriving in good form.

The six-year-old has registered Cup wins on each of his last two starts, including by nearly five lengths in the 1620m bet365 Donald Cup last weekend.

The 6.00 selection raced prominently having jumped from barrier 10 that day and similar is expected from a wide barrier in this contest.

Prior to that the gelding had delivered a narrow victory when contesting the 1600m Peninsula Cup at Mornington at the start of this month.

Tom Madden, on board last time out, is again set to ride, with his mount looking capable of completing a Cup hat-trick.

Battleton to salute at Canberra

The $200,000 Canberra Community Chest Quality is a 1400m event set to take place on a soft 5 track.

Maher’s import Chorlton Lane is expected to feature towards the head of the betting following three top-three finishes from four starts this season.

Those efforts include a narrow defeat when contesting a 1500m Benchmark 88 handicap on a good 4 track at Randwick earlier this month.

The gelding’s sole unplaced effort in his last four starts came when sixth in the 1500m Group 3 Cameron Handicap at Newcastle in September.

While Ashley Morgan’s mount has to concede weight to his rivals he holds obvious claims.

The six-year-old BATTLETON is the pick on this occasion, however, having got home by a narrow margin when successful at Rosehill on his penultimate start.

The 4.80 gelding contested a 1500m Benchmark 78 handicap held on a soft 5 track on that occasion and placed third at Newcastle subsequently.

That Newcastle third saw him contest a 1300m Benchmark 94 handicap on a good 4 track just over a week ago and he has gone well at this distance in the past.

Alysha Collett is set to ride here and, jumping from barrier ten, the pair look up to providing the Bjorn Baker stable with a winner.

Flames to fire in Gold Cup

The 1600m Narromine Gold Cup is an open handicap set to take place as the penultimate event on an eight-race card.

Michael Mulholland has his horses in good form currently, with the trainer boasting a 36% strike-rate (9/25) in the last 30 days.

He saddles SEA OF FLAMES here, with the gelding having demonstrated improvement with racing this prep.

The 4.00 pick delivered his best effort since resuming when narrowly beaten into second in the 1600m Warren Jockey Club Cotton Cup at Warren two weeks ago.

The seven-year-old tracked the speed on that occasion and barrier eight shouldn’t pose any issues here.

Apprentice Shayleigh Ingelse takes one-and-a-half kilograms off his back and she can partner him to victory here.