Classic attraction

Multiple top-flight winner Gailo Chop (Fr) (Deportivo {GB}) is heading to Perth for the G1 Kingston Town Classic.

"He'll go just for the Kingston Town Classic over 1800 metres," trainer Matthew Williams said.

"He'll have that month in between runs coming back from the 2000 metres to the 1800 metres.

"Probably his best run for me has been over that 1800 metres when he ran third in the G1 Underwood S., so I'm quite happy with the distance with that month in between."

Immediate future uncertain

Mornington trainer Logan McGill has yet to decide if Gold Fields (Churchill Downs) runs again before he departs for Dubai.

"We'll just see how he is and let him get his head down on the grass for a few days," McGill told RSN927. "The long-term plan is to go to Dubai with him in January. It's a little bit down the track now but if he doesn't have a run in between now and then, so be it.

"The races that he's going to go over for I think they're about $80,000 American to the winner and that's not too far off what he was racing for the other day."

He said they were also keen to try Gold Fields, who won the G3 Sandown S. on Saturday, on the dirt.

"We're told that his racing pattern and everything would suit that," he said. "So if he happens to have a liking for that then that will take him to another level over there. "

Cup target

Lindsay Park will have a two representatives in Saturday’s Listed Ballarat Cup, which this year carries record prizemoney of $500,000.

Fifty Stars (Ire) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) and Alfarris (Fr) (Shamardal {USA}) will represent David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig in the race, which has been shortened from 2200 to 2000 metres.

Fifty Stars was runner-up in the G1 Cantala S. and then ran fifth in the G1 Mackinnon S.

"I thought he stayed on quite nicely last time and the $500,000 is a nice carrot and all the weight-for-age horses have gone out for a spell,” David Hayes said.

"He nearly won the big mile race at Flemington and he seems in good order and at the end of the spring I thought why not give it a go."

Alfarris did not measure up to expectations during the spring and Hayes said the stable is instead looking to summer options with the stayer. The Ballarat Cup would be a stepping stone to the Listed Pakenham Cup on December 7.

New start for Ef Troop

Ef Troop (Spirit Of Boom) will make his debut for new trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy in Saturday’s Magic Millions 3 & 4YO Classic at Ballarat.

The former Tony Gollan-prepared sprinter has won winning barrier trials in South Australia in his lead-up.

"He's a quality horse, which his form suggests," Tony McEvoy said. "He arrived down to me from Tony Gollan's in outstanding order.

"He's a really free-running, fast horse and he's a big, powerful horse. I'm still learning about him, but in his trials he's been pretty solid.

"I don't think he has been beating much in the trials, but it's the way he's been doing it. If he can take that to the race, with my small knowledge of him, he'll run a solid race for sure."

Robust trade

The Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale concluded its 12-session run on Sunday in Lexington with 14 million-dollar mares and increases in gross and average, but overall figures closely in line with the auction’s 2018 renewal.

“We saw strong participation by major domestic and foreign buyers and a number of new buyers, who enthusiastically invested in broodmares and weanlings, both long-term commitments, which indicates an optimistic view of the sport,” Keeneland President and CEO Bill Thomason said.

During the 2019 November sale, 2667 horses sold for an aggregate of US$200,139,400 (AU$293,750,000). The average ticked up a fraction to US$75,043 (AU$110,142) while the median remained unchanged from a year ago at US$25,000 (AU$36,693).

Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm’s John Sikura made the auction’s highest bid, going to US$3.2 million (AU$4,696,791) to buy out his Elevage partners in the champion mare Take Charge Brandi (USA) (Giant’s Causeway {USA}).

First Group victory

Central Districts jockey Leah Hemi experienced her biggest day in racing at Riccarton on Saturday, but admits the milestone is only just starting to sink in.

Hemi brought up her sixth stakes victory and first at Group level when riding home Dee And Gee (NZ) (Darci Brahma {NZ}) to take out the G3 Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup.

“This one is definitely the biggest one because all of the other ones have been Listed races and this is the first Group race I have won,” she said.

“It’s pretty surreal, it still hasn’t sunk in yet because we were straight on a flight afterwards and there were races on Sunday.

“It was a great day, it just seemed to work out really well. We had a quiet week on the Wednesday and Saturday prior, so it all made up for it on the last day.”

Dour staying test

Shaune Ritchie is going from chasing Group 1 glory at Riccarton on Saturday to attempting to win the longest flat race.

The Cambridge trainer was seeking his first New Zealand 1000 Guineas win and just came up short with Jennifer Eccles (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle {Ire}) finishing second while his other representative Belle Mente (NZ) (El Roca) ran fifth.

Now, Ritchie is gearing up for a trip to Warrnambool next week to saddle up his stayer Where Are You (NZ) (Ekraar {USA}) in the $300,000 Jericho Cup the following Sunday on a commemorative race day in honour of the ANZAC WWI heroes.

Where Are You, part-owned by Ritchie, is heading to Australia in company with the Neil O’Dowd-trained Aigne (NZ) (Sufficient {NZ}), who earned an all-expenses paid trip for the Jericho Cup when winning over 3210 metres at New Plymouth on September 28.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Ritchie said. “It’ll be a real test going 4600 metres, but she’d never get a chance to run for that money here.”