Gai Waterhouse-trained Travolta will carry the top weight of 59kg in the Group 3 Summer Cup (2000m) at Royal Randwick on Boxing Day.
Travolta will run in the Summer Cup in Sydney on Boxing Day rather than the Perth Cup on New Year's Day. Photo by: Steve Hart
Travolta returned to his best form with a comfortable two and a half lengths victory in the Listed ATC Cup (2000m) at Rosehill Gardens on November 30; leading all the way to upstage a strong field that included Hoylonny and Maluckyday.
The Handsome Ransom gelding did enough to suggest to trainer Gai Waterhouse that he was good enough to head to Perth for the Group 2 Perth Cup (2400m) on New Year’s Day but the leading trainer has opted to give the five-year-old his first start at Group 3 level in Sydney.
Travolta has drawn ideally for the 2013 Summer Cup in barrier three and will be ridden by Adam Hyernomius; with regular jockey Tommy Berry still serving the suspension he suffered at Sha Tin on the Hong Kong International Raceday.
Another horse taking winning form into the Summer Cup is Darley gelding Solemn who will be returning to Group level for the first time since he finished a distant last behind It’s A Dundeel in the Group 1 Australian Derby (2400m).
Solemn started his summer campaign with a narrow second place finish in the Turner Freeman Lawyers Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill Gardens before upsetting the well-backed Index Linked in both the Next Racehorse At Inglis Handicap (1500m) on November 23 and the Horsepower Sweetfeed Handicap (1800m) a fortnight later.
The son of Bernardini will carry just 54 kilograms with Kerrin McEvoy on board and looks well placed to get a nice run into the race from barrier 2.
The only other last start winner in the 2013 Summer Cup field is Peter Moody-trained Zoomania who will be having the ninth start of a lengthy campaign that started with a disappointing performance behind stablemate Thy in the Listed Regal Roller Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield on August 17.
The daughter of Zabeel recorded a dominant win at Warrnambool on October 17 and finished a credible sixth in the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on the final day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival before recording the fourth win of her career in the Sistema Plastics Handicap at Moonee Valley on December 6.
A number of the runners in the Summer Cup will be backing up from the Group 2 Villiers Stakes (1550m) at the Randwick Kensington track a fortnight ago; with Destiny’s Kiss, Monton, Scream Machine and Sysmo all set to step-up in distance for the Group 3 event.
The 2013 Summer Cup final field is rounded out by the Chris Waller-trained duo of Hoylonny and I’m Imposing, Zipping Classic fourth placegetter Midsummer Sun, Danny Williams-trained Court Connection and Frozen Rope.
