IT'S MOE CUP DAY

Another busy Friday for us with day and night runners including Milford in this afternoon’s Moe Cup.

The 2050-metre Cup is the eighth race and with Patrick Moloney partnering the top-weight Mike Moroney is anticipating a bold run in a competitive country cup with Milford (pictured).

“H’e raced quite fresh first-up in the Naturalism which we expected and he’s come on nicely for that,” Mike said.

“He carried a fair bit of residual fitness into that after a short let up and he worked nicely on the steeple grass on Tuesday suggesting to us that he’s ready to run well.

“We thought this looked a nice race for him, particularly with the metro races so competitive right now, He’s nice and bright, drawn well in barrier three and with ordinary luck I expect him to tun very well.”

Toronto Terrier is our other Moe runner in race nine, the Moe Sprint, over 1200 metres under Jye McNeil.

“He’s first-up but we are really pleased with the way he has come back this preparation,” Mike said.

“His jumpouts and work have been good and I’m happy with him. He strikes a competitive field as you would expect on Cup day. my one little concern is barrier one but we’ll leave that up to Jye.

“The horse is fit and well and going well and he’s there to run well.”

Ay Pakenham we have Burlington Gate and Pacific Cross both making their debut in the fourth race, the 3YO Fillies Maiden Plate over 1200 metres with Nilly Egan aboard Burlington Gate and Daniel Stackhouse to ride Pacific Cross.

“They’re two nice fillies, different types but both likeable sorts,” Mike said.

“Burlington Gate is by The Autumn Sun and has shown us ability on the track and in jumpouts while Pacific cross is a daughter of Merchant Navy and little more delicate so we train her a bit differently.

“There’s not a lot of form to go on in the race but it’s a good place to get our fillies started, they’ve both drawn nicely and it’s good to get them to the races.”