Sunday’s Armidale Cup is shaping up to be one the biggest of its kind in recent years and hoping to make it back-to-back Cup wins is Glen Innes trainer Paddy Cunningham.
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The reigning champion has nominated last year’s winner Carry On Jake in the feature race. Carry On Jake hasn’t featured in the winnings in his recent outings and, coincidentally, the six-year-old gelding’s last win was at the same event on March 20 last year.
Cunningham said Jake has trained well and the longer distance (1900m) will suit him better.
“He seems to be going pretty good, not having a lot of luck but hopefully it changes on Sunday,” Cunningham said.
“It is a bit longer than what he has been racing.”
With recent rain softening up the Armidale track, Cunningham believes it could work in his favour.
“He does like the sting out of the ground so a bit of rain is not going to hurt him,” he said.
“I don't think he is appreciating the hard tracks that he has been racing on. His record says he has nearly all he has won on soft tracks.”
Nominations were received on Tuesday and Armidale Jockey Club secretary Jim Dedes said the club received 163 nominations in total with 19 for the Armidale Cup and 22 for Sunday’s main support race, the $25,000 De Bortoli Wines 2018 David Dye Memorial Newmarket Open Handicap (1100m).
“Only the Thunderbolt 2YO have been a bit light on (9) but we’ve extended that and hope to get a few more. If we get a field of eight or nine for that it will be a real good day,” he said.