Sadaqa being ridden by champion jockey Damien Oliver earlier this year.

FLEMINGTON trainer Mick Cerchi says punters should dismiss the last start performance of Sadaqa when assessing his chances in today’s Wodonga Gold Cup.

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Sadaqa failed to fire when he finished last of nine runners at Ballarat last Saturday and is on the quick back-up today.Cerchi said there were excuses for the last-start failure.

“I give him a huge chance today in the cup,” Cerchi said.

“You just have to forget he went round at Ballarat.

“There was a bit of track bias on the day.

“It was impossible for horses to make ground away from the rails, evidenced by leaders hugging the fence and winning throughout the meeting.”

Cerchi said a win a Flemington two starts back Oaks Day and a second behind The Cleaner at Moonee Valley in June were a better indication of the true ability of Sadaqa.

“Ever since he finished second behind The Cleaner at Moonee Valley I was confident he would measure up to open company,” he said.

“He only had to reproduce that form at Flemington which he did and scored the biggest win of his career.”

Sadaqa will be ridden by Dean Holland and is set to race handy after drawing perfectly in barrier 3.

“There looks to be a fair bit of speed in the race and I think Spacecraft will lead,” he said.

“Smoken Cash also likes to lead but I can see him being stuck three wide if he tries to cross from barrier 12.

“My horse will be right up there in the firing line and has a huge advantage over those horses drawn wide.

“Spacecraft is coming off an impressive run but his form before that was a bit up and down.

“It looks an open enough race but if Spacecraft is at his best and my horse is at his best, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them fighting out the finish.

“I’m just glad I drew a decent barrier otherwise I wouldn’t be coming.”

Sadaqa was quoted a $6.50-chance in TAB fixed-odds markets last night.