Darren Weir and Matt Cumani lead a hometown charge for a breakthrough in the listed $300,000 Sportsbet Ballarat Cup, 2200m, on Saturday.
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The Ballarat trainers will saddle up two of the leading contenders in a 13-strong line-up.
Weir has stable newcomer Mr Garcia, while Cumani has Grey Lion as his first runner in his newly adopted home cup.
A Ballarat stable has not produced a Ballarat Cup winner since Weir saluted with Just A Part in 2004 – a year after veteran Miners Rest horseman Syd Catherall landed the money with Western Waters.
Weir has come close since, with At First Sight second in 2014 after Hurdy Gurdy Man finished third the previous year.
Principally raced by two of Australia’s biggest thoroughbred syndicators, Mr Garcia (Australian Bloodstock) and Grey Lion (OTI Racing) take strong form into the Cup.
The newly imported Mr Garcia has his first run for Weir after winning at Flemington in his Australian debut, while Grey Lion is racing in his best form since arriving at Cumani’s stable last spring with a third in the Cranbourne Cup, fourth in the Geelong Cup and close second in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington.
Ballarat’s hopes do not stop there though.
Sportsbet-Ballarat based Charlie Quick will have one of the biggest moments in his training career when he sends around Jimmie Jim.
Quick only took up training in early 2012 and had to wait two years before opening his winning account at Nhill.
He rarely has more than a handful in work and bar two starts Jimmie Jim is the only horse Quick has had to the races this season
The five-year-old won his maiden at Horsham two starts ago and is coming off a third in a benchmark58 at Dunkeld on Saturday.
To add the Ballarat flavour to the Cup, Robert Smerdon (Grand Dreamer) and Henry Dwyer (Sonntag) complement their main bases at Caulfield with satellite stables at Dowling Forest.
The Chris Waller-trained Antonio Giuseppe will carry the top weight of 58kg after weights had to be raised by 1kg with Zipping Classic winner The Taj Mahal not being an acceptor.
The Taj Mahal, which had 60kg, was one of four nominations by Macedon Lodge, with the three among the top five in the weights, but none will start.
BALLARAT CUP FIELD
1-277 Antonio Giuseppe (M Walker) 5 58kg
2-110 De Little Engine (B Thompson) (a) 10 56kg
3-054 Extra Zero (R Bayliss) 4 55.5kg
4-046 Big Memory (L Currie) 1 55kg
5-342 Grey Lion (J Childs) 3 55kg
6-703 Second Bullet (B Melham) 11 54kg
7-571 Mr Garcia (B Allen) (a) 9 54kg
8-860 Big Blue (S Baster) 13 54kg
9-701 Sonntag (J McNeil) 7 54kg
10-101 Oncidium Ruler (B Mertens) (a) 2 54kg
11-073 Grand Dreamer (P Moloney) 6 54kg
12-222 Knowable (D Yendall) 12 54kg
13-313 Jimmie Jim (N Beriman) 8 54kg