Trainer Ciaron Maher has more than half the runners in the Travis Harrison Cup at Moonee Valley with half those runners on a potential Cups campaign.
Smokin’ Romans, Interpretation and Duke De Sessa feature among nominations for the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) in October, while Too Close The Sun, Normandy Bridge and Wyclif will also step out in Saturday’s 2040m contest.
Nominations for both the Caulfield Cup and Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley, also in October, closed on Tuesday while Melbourne Cup entries do not close until early September where Smokin’ Romans, Interpretation and Duke De Sessa are expected to be included.
Maher is racing Smokin’ Romans through the winter months in a bid to restore the gelding’s confidence, just as he did through the winter of 2022 when the gelding won the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington early in the spring.
That led to Smokin’ Romans starting favourite in the Caulfield Cup, in which he finished seventh, before also running seventh in the Melbourne Cup.
Maher returned the blinkers to Smokin’ Romans race day gear for the gelding’s last start when second at Flemington on July 20 under Jaylah Kennedy who has the ride again on Saturday.
“We put the shades on last time and Jaylah said she probably should have made more use of him, and she was probably right too,” Maher said.
“But he was a horse that was out of form for a bit, so we’re using this winter to hopefully get him back into a bit form and he certainly seems to be doing that.
“This way you can get ahead of the game fitness wise and in those early spring races, they’re ready to win, not ready to run.”
Maher is using the same theory with Interpretation who has had two runs since finishing sixth in last year’s Melbourne Cup behind Without A Fight.
Interpretation has performed moderately, but Maher is not concerned, wanting to build his fitness as he aims towards a start in a third Melbourne Cup.
“He’s just getting into the swing of things,” Maher said.
“He’s had a couple of runs and hasn’t troubled them too much, but he’s a blinker horse and a genuine two-miler, as we saw last year.”