KILMORE Racing Club chief executive Ben Murphy and his team are hoping the weather gods will be kind to them in preparation for Sunday’s running of the $200,000 bet365 Kilmore Cup.
The club is looking forward to attracting a top class field for the listed 1600-metre race given the injection of added prizemoney.
Last year’s winner, Bendigo galloper Hi Stranger, is trying to make it back-to-back Kilmore Cup wins.
The then five-year-old Zoffany gelding, trained by Shane Fliedner, comfortably defeated Imperial Lad and Tibetan.
Fliedner said he would have to find another rider as regular hoop Damien Thornton is currently suspended.
Hi Stranger is in form, having come from the rear of the field in last month’s Seymour Cup run at Bendigo to place third to the South Australian galloper Noname Lane and Just Folk, beaten only by a half-length.
“He just falls short of top class but he is an ideal country cup horse,” Fliedner said.
Hi Stranger has won eight races with 14 minor placings from his 50 starts.
The Bendigo galloper Just Folk and the Lindsay Park Racing veteran, So Si Bon, both scratched from last Saturday’s Cranbourne Cup, a 1600-metre race, are also likely to take the field.
