Melbourne Cup Dreaming For Lexus Stakes Field

29 October 2014 11:16 AM

The stakes are much higher than the $180,000 first prize in this Saturday's Lexus Stakes at Flemington, with all but one runner, More Than Sacred, from the field of 13 starters aiming to pick-up automatic entry into the Melbourne Cup.

The early favourite in the race is the Darren Weir trained SignOff. A strong runner-up in the Group 2 Herbert Power followed by a third behind Contributer and Noble Protector in the Group 3 Coongy over 2000 metres, he is currently at $3.30 in opening fixed odds markets. The Herbert Power is proving to be one of the key form races for the Lexus Stakes with other Cup hopefuls Big Memory, Lets Make A Deal, Lord Van Percy and Unchain My Heart also coming out of it with good runs and a case for improvement on Saturday. One of the stronger cases for a big run in the Lexus Stakes comes for British import Lord Van Percy who is expected to appreciate the wider Flemington course over the Caulfield track where he got back a bit last run.

Melbourne CupThe Geelong Cup is the other key form line coming into the Lexus Stakes, with winner Caravan Rolls On, runner-up Marksmakship, Shoreham, Like A Carousel and Wish Come True all looking for a Melbourne Cup start on Tuesday, 4 November.

If the winner of the Lexus on Saturday can back-up three days later and win the Cup over two miles, it will be the eighth horse in 145 years of Lexus Stakes (Hotham Handicap) - Melbourne Cup history to win the double. The last horse to achieve this feat was Shocking back in 2009.