LOVES A BIG TRACK: The Danny O’Brien-trained Eraset is third favourite for tomorrow’s Golden Mile at Bendigo.
EARLY favourite Banca Mo has been scratched from tomorrow’s $150,000 Yalumba Golden Mile (1600m) at Bendigo.
The Tasmanian-based galloper was scratched after suitable transport arrangements could not be arranged.
“We’ve been waiting for a flight all week, but we have got pushed back every day, so we have decided to pull the pin on the trip,’’ trainer David Brunton said.
“That’s the penalty you pay for training down here, because sometimes it is hard to get horses across to the mainland.’’
Banca Mo had been heavily supported from $8 into $4.20 for the Golden Mile.
“It is disappointing because the horse has been going really well and I tell you what, he would not have known himself with 54 kilos there on Saturday because he’s been carrying 58 and 59 down here, but that is the way it goes,’’ Brunton said.
Banca Mo’s absence saw the Mike Moroney-trained Wall Street ($3.80) take over favouritism.
Moroney is looking for veteran Wall Street to snap his winless run ahead of a planned overseas mission.
Moroney is hoping the Group One winner will still be going well to contest the Singapore Airlines International Cup in May, but first the trainer’s attention is on the Golden Mile.
Wall Street was one of the luckless runners in last weekend’s Group Two Blamey Stakes when he was held up on the fence until late.
He came in third behind Puissance De Lune and Budriguez who dead-heated, but Moroney believes Wall Street should have won.
“It looked the right race for him last week because he was well-weighted and to see him boxed away on the rail was disappointing,” Moroney said.
Eight-year-old Wall Street, who hasn’t won since the Group One Emirates Stakes in 2010, has come through that run well and is favourite for the Golden Mile where he’ll carry 60kg.
Wall Street’s three starts this campaign have been a fourth in the C.F. Orr Stakes, second in the Kilmore Cup and third in the Blamey.
“If he takes the same form from his past two starts he’ll be the horse to beat on Saturday,” Moroney said.
Moroney said he was “pretty keen” to get Wall Street to the Singapore race.
Naturalism Stakes winner Folding Gear is second favourite at $6.50, while the Danny O’Brien-trained Eraset is third favourite at $7.
Eraset, who ran midfield in this race last year, is part-owned by a syndicate of Bendigo horse racing enthusiasts.
‘’He’s not a horse you can be super confident about because he needs everything to go right in his races,’’ O’Brien said.
‘’He needs tempo, cover and needs to get clear at the right time and those things don’t line up all that often.’’
Bendigo trainer Shane Fliedner is praying for a scratching in the $150,000 First Light Racing Bendigo Guineas (1600m).
Fliedner’s three-year-old Churchill Express is first emergency for the high-class event.
Churchill Express, a half-brother to Fliedner’s smart mare Laura’s Charm, won impressively at Bendigo first-up from a spell.
Bendigo fields – Page 30