Divine Prophet, Prized Icon among 2017 Australian Guineas nominations

Last year’s Melbourne Spring Carnival Group 1 winners Prized Icon and Divine Prophet are set to face off during the Autumn Carnival with both colts nominated for the 2017 Group 1 $750,000 Australian Guineas (1600m) at Flemington on March 4.

Victoria Derby winner Prized Icon, above, is among the nominations for the 2017 Australian Guineas at Flemington. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Victoria Derby winner Prized Icon, above, is among the nominations for the 2017 Australian Guineas at Flemington. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

The Team Hawkes trained Divine Prophet showed his class with a win over Seaburge and Hey Doc in the Group 1 $1m Ladbrokes Caulfield Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield and is one of one hundred and twenty three-year-olds nominated for the Australian Guineas.

Seaburge from the Lindsay Park Team and the Tony McEvoy trained Hey Doc are also among the Australian Guineas nominations.

Team Hawkes has also nominated Inference, Into Orbit and Redouble while the Lindsay Park Team of David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig have left nothing to chance with Seaburge being one of eighteen three year olds entered for the stable.

Prized Icon is one of seven Australian Guineas entries from the James Cummings stable and wound up his 2016 Spring Carnival campaign with a dominant win in the Group 1 $1.5m AAMI Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington.

Cummings has also nominated Bombarder, Gauguin, Launch Code, Nepean, Potent Force and Rock And Swing.

Sydney’s leading trainer Chris Waller has a star studded list of Australian Guineas nominations headed up by the fillies Omei Sword, Foxplay and Sezanne and colts Comin’ Through and Veladero.

Golden Rose winner Astern is the high profile three year old leading John O’Shea’s ten Australian Guineas nominations but the Medaglio D’Oro colt is likely to be kept to a sprint campaign over the Autumn Carnival.

Astern’s stalemate Impending showed plenty of ability during the 2016 Sydney Spring Carnival with a win in the Group 2 $200,000 Stan Fox Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill while Morton’s Fork showed that he was a handy miler with a win in the Group 2 $250,000 Ladbrokes Sandown Guineas (1600m) at Sandown at the end of the 2016 Melbourne Spring Carnival.

Melbourne’s premiership winning trainer Darren Weir won the 2016 Australian Guineas with Palentino but only has three horses nominated this year, Artie Dee Two, Jennifer Lynn and Last Request.

The first acceptances for the 2017 Australian Guineas will be taken on Tuesday 21 February at 12pm with final acceptances on Wednesday, March 1.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.