The attraction of VOBIS Gold riches sees an excellent crop of three-year-olds entered for Victoria’s inaugural VOBIS Gold double-header Flemington on Saturday. A total of 230 nominations were taken for the eight-race Flemington fixture, including 24 in the VOBIS Gold Reef (1600m) and 14 in the VOBIS Gold Ingot (1200m).
Written Up, the stable star of Kyneton trainer George Osborne‘s team headlines nominations for the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Reef for three-year-olds.
The son of Written Tycoon is chasing his maiden victory in this season’s lucrative VOBIS Gold Premier Race Series after taking out the Listed $150,000 Bendigo Guineas (1400m) at last-start.
Also chasing the VOBIS carrot could be recent Sandown winner Written, another of the Written Tycoon progeny, from the astute Mick Kent team while Darren Weir’s popular galloper Trust In A Gust will be looking to return to the winners list.
Trust In A Gust was narrowly defeated by Worth A Ransom – who is also nominated for Saturday’s race - in the $70,000 VOBIS Gold Eldorado (1300m) at Wangaratta on 2 March before an unplaced run, only the second of his career, in the Bendigo Guineas.
The son of Keep The Faith will be looking to add to his three previous wins in the VOBIS Gold Premier Series at Moonee Ballarat, Caulfield and Moonee Valley.
Dual Stakes-winning filly Solicit has been nominated by trainers Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra however last year’s Group 1 VRC Crown Oaks (2500m) placegetter is unlikely to line up at Flemington with connections instead indicating she will tackle Saturday’s $400,000 Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill.
Saturday’s other Flemington feature is the $180,000 VOBIS Gold Ingot (1200m) for two-year-olds.
Caulfield trainer Peter Moody has four potential debutants amongst the 14 entries taken for the race, with Choctaw Ridge, Easy Drama, Roar Aliberty and Second Option all a chance to kick off their respective racing careers.
Cranbourne horseman Robbie Griffiths has entered Inferential and Singularity, the latter placed in the $120,000 Group 3 7News Stakes during the Spring Racing Carnival.
Peter Morgan and Craig Widdison have nominated Eloping, an impressive last-start winner of the $250,000 Bendigo VOBIS Gold Rush (1000m) however the daughter of Choisir will head to Rosehill for the $3.5 million Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) instead.
And while it may not offer the same VOBIS Gold prizemoney and bonuses, the $80,000 Prudential Plate (1200m) for three-year-old has received a healthy 36 entries.
The race will likely see the return of The Quarterback from the Robbie Griffiths yard. The Quarterback was twice placed at Group level in the autumn before finishing unplaced behind Shamus Award in the $505,000 Group 1 Australian Guineas (1600m) earlier this month.
Caulfield trainer Peter Moody has three entries, no more intriguing than River Delta who was an impressive four-length winner on debut at Yarra Valley.
Vero Beach, an exciting son of Fastnet Rock, is listed as an entry from the Mark Kavanagh yard following an uber impressive performance when resuming at Kyneton several weeks ago, thrashing his rivals by seven lengths.
For the full list of nominations for Flemington on Saturday can be viewed here
The VOBIS Gold nomination deadline for eligible yearlings is 30 June. Nomination forms are available here.