La Amistad’s chances of at least running in the race her famous half-sister won three times will improve markedly if she can return to her best at Randwick on Saturday.
In what shapes as a make-or-break spring race for La Amistad for the second time in 12 months, the Hawkes Racing-trained stayer will contest the $100,000 City Tattersalls Cup.
Unplaced in her first three spring appearances, the Melbourne Cup is motivation behind La Amistad’s switch from the stable’s Victorian operation to run in Sydney.
She is among 82 horses in contention after the latest pay-up stage for a start in the Melbourne Cup, the race which turned her half-sister Makybe Diva in an all-time great of the Australian turf.
“The dream is still there but it’s whether she is good enough and Saturday will sort of tell us that,” trainer Michael Hawkes said.
La Amistad finished second in last year’s Tattersalls Cup and she tried to earn an exemption into the Melbourne Cup before coming up agonisingly short in the Lexus Stakes.
It’s a path the Hawkes stable has used with success after Maluckyday won at Randwick before winning the Lexus ahead of his runner-up placing to Americain in the 2010 Melbourne Cup.
Hawkes said if La Amistad had raced in the Makybe Diva era, her place in Australia’s greatest race would be assured as the winner of the Andrew Ramsden Stakes, a Flemington staying test run over the Melbourne Cup distance.
“Going back 10 years ago she would have been right there but with all the internationals coming it definitely makes it a lot harder,” Hawkes said.
The Offer, Beaten Up, Prince Cheri and Ruling Dynasty are also Melbourne Cup entries running in the Tattersalls Cup.
Beaten Up is the early favourite over Ruling Dynasty after chasing home Magic Hurricane when runner-up in the Group One Metropolitan.
The Chris Waller-trained stayer was balloted from the Caulfield Cup and Jason Collett will take mount, having ridden the veteran once before in an unsuitable weight-for-age sprint.
He is the best placed of his fellow Melbourne Cup hopefuls to gain a start at Flemington on November 3 at No.34 in the latest order of entry.
