Cindy Alderson has scoped out the services of Michelle Payne to aid her bid at landing Saturday’s Ballarat Cup.
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The Cranbourne-based trainer will saddle up talented mare Manageress in the $300,000 race, with Payne set to ride the horse in her attempt at winning a maiden hometown cup.
“I booked her because I thought she’d get the job done,” Alderson told The Courier.
“It would be exciting, obviously, if she did win it and all girls and all that sort of stuff – a female horse, a female trainer, a female jockey and a female strapper.
“It would be one for the ladies, I guess, but it (the decision to book Payne) was purely based on who I thought would suit the horse, at that weight, at the Ballarat track. And that’s how Michelle got asked to ride the horse.”
Alderson said Payne has intimate knowledge of the Ballarat track.
“It can be a tricky circuit. Also, she is patient and she has proven that she can ride in those big races and acquit herself well,” Alderson said.
“She obviously knows how to ride a stayer, she’s good on stayers...”
Manageress is one of three rides on Ballarat Cup day for Payne, who has also been booked on Luke Oliver-trained Majestueux in the Magic Millions 2YO Clockwise Classic and Greg Baker’s Buena Veloz in the Vobis Gold Eureka Stockade.
Aldredson said her charge heads into the Ballarat Cup on the back of a luckless campaign.
The horse finished a close-up third in the Sale Cup two starts back and heads to Saturday’s race on the back of a 12th placing in the group 2 Matriarch Stakes at Flemington earlier this month.
“She has been unlucky this preparation and probably a couple of her races things haven’t gone her way and she’s ended up in the wrong spot,” Alderson said.
“But on Saturday, she’s got a good barrier (two) and Michelle should be pretty confident of where she can get to on that track and what she needs to do to win the race.
“I’ve got the horse in good order, so hopefully it happens.”
Unlike what can sometimes be the case for horses late in the spring, Aldersone said a tilt at the Ballarat Cup, 2200, hasn’t been an afterthought for the five-year-old, with the race always on the radar this campaign.
On Friday afternoon, Manageress was rated a $21 with sportsbet.com.au.
Alderson will also bring stablemate Smart Dart to town for the Tonks Plate, 1200m.
