The McEwen Stakes failed to really delivery anything that might point a way to picking a winner for the Melbourne Cup, both Efficient and Miss Andretti were none starters. Kaphero ($2.90) however was fantastic, jumping away very fast and leading all the way for a two length win over Morgan Dollar ($2.00) and three lenghts away Lucky Secret ($2.10).
The 2006 Melbourne Cup 3rd place getter, Maybe Better resuming ($26 Melbourne Cup odds), was never in the race and shoud be seen as simply a hit out before moving to more suited races, the horse won’t really come into its own until we get to 2000m+ races.
This weeks Group 3 McEwen Stakes over 1000 metres is offering more big names that will step out for the start of their spring campaigns. The most notable of these was last years surprising Melboune Cup winner Efficient and the superstar sprinter Miss Andretti.
The McEwen offers a mix of both sprinters and stayers, outside of Miss Andretti and Efficient we have 2006 Melbourne Cup place getter, Maybe Better resuming and the 2007 Jayco Sprint winner Sharkbite also starts his spring campaign. Finally of note we have the 2006 Moone Valley Cup winner and multiple Melbourne Cup runner Zipping taking part in the McEwen.
It is great to see after the JJ Liston on the weekend more big names of Australian racing starting to resume. It really is this time of year that we build in the anticipation for the first Tuesday in November.
