The familiar colours of Lib Petagna will be carried by Kalapour at Flemington on Saturday in a last-gasp bid for a spot in Tuesday’s Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).
Kalapour will line up against just six rivals in Saturday’s A$300,000 Gr.3 Lexus Archer Stakes (2500m), which carries a Melbourne Cup ballot exemption for the winner. Kalapour currently sits in 28th place on the Melbourne Cup order of entry.
Imported to Australia after recording a win, a second and two fourths from four races in Ireland, Kalapour spent the early stages of his southern hemisphere career racing in Benchmark 78 and Benchmark 85 company.
The War Command gelding came of age in Brisbane during the winter, recording two wins and three placings from five starts including a win in the Gr.3 Chairman’s Handicap (2000m) and a third in the Gr.3 Premier’s Cup (2400m).
Kalapour has found some of that same form again in the spring of his seven-year-old season, finishing third in the Gr.1 Metropolitan Handicap (2400m) and the A$500,000 St Leger (2600m) in his two most recent appearances.
“He’s been going well,” Petagna’s bloodstock agent Bruce Perry said. “He was very good through that winter carnival in Queensland, and he’s been in some nice form again in Sydney in the spring.
“Kris Lees and his team have done a very good job with the horse, and they’re happy with him leading into this race on Saturday.
“It’s not a big field, but it’s going to be an interesting race. There’s an Almanzor horse from John O’Shea’s stable (Athabascan) that’s going to be hard to beat, and obviously Ladies Man for Allan Sharrock as well. He’s unknown in Australia at this stage, but has shown a lot of ability in New Zealand.
“A few horses are trying to get that Melbourne Cup spot, and we’re one of them. That’s going to be the plan for us if we end up making the field. Lib is more than happy to throw the dice with the entry fee. It’s not a cheap exercise, but that’s the whole reason why you get involved with these sorts of staying horses. You want opportunities like this.
“This horse has paid his way so far anyway, and we’ll be hoping for the best over the next few days.”
Back home, Petagna’s colours will also feature at Tauranga on Saturday with first-starters La Mezquita and Nikaia lining up in the Bayleys Mount Maunganui Maiden (1200m).
La Mezquita is a four-year-old daughter of Almanzor and the stakes-winning Redoute’s Choice mare Papilio, and she was bought by Perry for $320,000 as a yearling at Karaka in 2021. La Mezquita is trained by Stephen Marsh and heads into Saturday’s debut with a number of trials under her belt.
Nikaia, meanwhile, is a homebred filly by Ardrossan. The exciting young Waikato Stud stallion was himself raced by Petagna, and the Elsdon Park principal has retained an interest in him at stud.
Also trained by Marsh, Nikaia was a trial winner at Te Aroha on October 12.
“La Mezquita is a nice horse but has just taken quite a while to mature,” Perry said. “Saturday’s 1200m is probably going to be too short for her, but we’ve got to get her going somewhere. She also probably doesn’t want the track to be too wet.
“The same could be said about Nikaia, maybe even more so. She definitely wouldn’t want the track to deteriorate much.
“She’s a filly who’s shown plenty. It looks like quite a strong field on Saturday, but we’re keen to try to target some of those good three-year-old fillies’ races that are coming up, so we need to get her going somewhere as well.”