Melbourne Cup winner Almandin could be a surprise runner in the Group 2 $300,000 Zipping Classic (2400m) at Sandown on Saturday after heading up the fifteen nominations for the weight for age feature.
Melbourne Cup winner Almandin, above, is among the nominations for the Zipping Classic at Sandown. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Prominent co-owner Lloyd Williams hasn’t ruled out giving Almandin one more Spring Carnival and will decide later in the week if the German import goes around on Saturday.
“We will decide next Tuesday if Almandin runs at Sandown,’’ Williams told the Herald Sun.
Almandin became William’s fifth winner of the Group 1 $6m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington last Tuesday, adding to the wins of Just A Dash (1981), What A Nuisance (1985), Efficient (2007) and Green Moon in 2012.
Williams has also nominated his three other Melbourne Cup runners, Assign, Bondi Beach and Gallante, for the Zipping Classic but will also wait and see how they progress during the week before confirming a run.
Almandin’s stablemates Assign and Gallante finished nineteenth and twentieth, while the Aidan O’Brien trained Bondi Beach that has now been transferred to Williams’ Macedon Lodge trainer Robert Hickmott, finished thirteenth in the Melbourne Cup.
“I’ll see after Tuesday after we give them a little bit of exercise and see then whether we want to stop them or give them another go,” Williams said.
“They all seem to have come though the race fine, but I haven’t done anything with them except walking them since the Melbourne Cup.
“I will run them up a little bit, not very hard on Tuesday morning to see how they are.
“I would say it is about a 50 per cent chance.”
Williams has a great Affinity with the Zipping Classic which was name after his grand old stayer Zipping who won the race on four occasions from 2007 to 2010 when it was called the Sandown Classic.
The Williams owned Tandy also won the Zipping Classic in 2012.
Last year’s Zipping Classic winner Who Shot Thebarman is also among the nominations and is also coming off a last start in the Melbourne Cup when finishing fifth.
Other Melbourne Cup runners nominated for the Zipping Classic are the Godolphin English stayers Beautiful Romance (seventh in the Melbourne Cup) and Secret Number (twenty-first), international visitor Big Orange (tenth) and the Lindsay Park trained Almoonqith (sixth).
Charlevoix, Nozomi, Puccini, So Si Bon, Transfer Allowance and Tristram’s Sun make up the remainder of the Zipping Classic nominations.
The final acceptances for the Zipping Classic will be released on Wednesday morning, November 9.
Early market order for Zipping Classic at Ladbrokes.com.au: $3 Almandin, $6 So Si Bon, $7 Almoonqith, Who Shot Thebarman, $8 Big Orange, Bondi Beach, $10 Beautiful Romance, $21 Nozomi, $26 Gallante, Assign, Secret Number, $31 Charlevoix, $51 Tristram’s Sun, $71 Puccini, $101 Transfer Allowance.
