Archie Alexander has settled on the more spacious surrounds of Geelong for Renew in a bid to climb up the Melbourne Cup ballot order.
The stayer is among the nominations for Saturday’s Moonee Valley Cup but will take his place in the Geelong Cup on Wednesday.
Renew remains in Melbourne Cup calculations but needs to win the Geelong Cup and gain a hefty penalty if he is to line up at Flemington.
The gelding has 50kg and is 49th in the ballot order for the Melbourne Cup and recent Geelong Cup winners have received either 1kg or 1.5kg penalties.
Renew is one of 13 Melbourne Cup entrants which will be out to try improve their ballot positions on Wednesday.
Alexander knows the Geelong Cup task facing Renew is a stiff one but at the same time he’s confident the horse will run well.
“It’s a tough race with horses like Quest For More and Dandino looking pretty much impossible to beat, but there’s half the field that he beat home in the Bart Cummings that are in the race,” Alexander said.
He is hoping with 17 runners in Wednesday’s race it will be run at a steady tempo and not a sit-and-sprint affair.
“Sadly he doesn’t have the early speed to dictate,” Alexander said.
“If they go hard they go hard and if they don’t we try to creep up.
“It’s a big field so you would expect something to go on and set the pace.
“It doesn’t have to be that strong a pace, just regular.”
Alexander said the 3200m Sandown Cup, a race Renew won last year, is a more likely target for Renew with the Queen’s Cup (2600m) on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival a possibility should he run well on Wednesday.
