The decision not to run Epingle in the staying feature on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival is one trainer Mick Kent hopes will have its reward at Sandown.
Kent scratched Epingle from the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) last Saturday at Flemington to save her for the Zipping Classic (2400m) in which she finished second to Sertorius last year when the meeting was at Caulfield.
The seven-year-old is yet to win in three starts this preparation but heads into the $350,000 weight-for-age race after a fourth in the Moonee Valley Cup.
“She has been running well without getting on the board but she’s got fresh legs, I suppose, going into this,” Kent said.
“We didn’t go to the Queen Elizabeth because the track was pretty firm and we waited for this.
“We haven’t drawn well again but I think she’s going well.
“Her fourth run in is about her time to stand up.”
Kent believes the outside gate makes Epingle’s task tougher in the nine-horse field and he also hopes the track will not be too hard.
This year’s Hobart and Launceston Cup winner, Epingle is at $10 with Moonee Valley Cup winner Prince Of Penzance the $3.20 favourite.
He is backing up after his second to Le Roi in the Queen Elizabeth at Flemington.
“He’s come through it really well, otherwise he wouldn’t be backing up,” trainer Darren Weir told RSN.
“If we had an ideal scenario a bit of rain tonight would be perfect but the horse is in great shape and there’s no excuses.”
Spillway is second favourite at $4.40 while 2012 Melbourne Cup winner Green Moon is at $5, just ahead of international visitor Au Revoir.
The Andre Fabre-trained Au Revoir was third in the Moonee Valley Cup before his eighth in the Melbourne Cup.
Green Moon and Sea Moon will be out to give owner Lloyd Williams his seventh win in the race since 2003.
The race was formerly known as the Sandown Classic but was renamed after Williams’ stayer Zipping who won it four years in a row from 2007 to 2010.
