Multiple Group 1 winning trainer Annabel Neasham has Friday's $200,000 Albury Gold Cup, (2000m) firmly on the stable's radar.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Neasham nominated four runners for the Listed feature in Irish imports Claim The Crown, Fawkner Park, Redstone Well alongside Regal Lion when entries were released on Monday.
Racing manager, Rob Archibald, confirmed that the stable was likely to have a three-pronged attack on the Albury Gold Cup with Redstone Well, Regal Lion and Fawkner Park.
Claim The Crown ran third in last Sunday's Yarra Valley Cup but has been ruled out of making the trek to Albury with the five day turnaround.
"At this stage the most likely runners will be Redstone Well, Regal Lion and Fawkner Park," Archibald said on Tuesday morning.
Neasham has never previously targeted the Albury Gold Cup but is set to have a strong hand in her first attempt in winning the feature race.
Redstone Well is a lightly raced five-year-old gelding who finished runner-up in the Canberra Cup at his most recent start with Tom Sherry aboard.
The Irish import only had his first Australian start in January and has had one win and two minor placings from five starts since joining the Neasham stable.
Regal Lion also contested the Canberra Cup at his most recent start where he finished fifth in the small field of seven runners.
The five-year-old gelding's most recent win was in the Ipswich Cup in June last year.
Fawkner Park stamped himself as a talented stayer in the making last year after four consecutive wins in lesser grade before contesting some much stronger races.
The five-year-old gelding recently returned from a 12-week let up and should be approaching peak fitness after running fourth at both Rosehill and Flemington at his two most recent runs.
Meanwhile the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained So United has been allocated top-weight of 59kg for the Albury Gold Cup.
With a Benchmark rating of 95, So United is one of five gallopers among the nominations with a rating of 90 plus.
Neasham's trio of runners in Redstone Well 57.5kg, Fawkner Park 56.5kg and Regal Lion 56.5kg alongside the Matthew Smith-trained Esti Feny 57kg are the only other runners weighted above the minimum of 54kg.
So United recently started favourite in the Canberra Cup with Tim Clark aboard but faded late when running third after attempting an all-the-way victory.
The Waterhouse and Bott galloper alongside the Neasham-trained Regal Lion who finished runner-up in the Canberra feature are set to be among two of the leading fancies if they are among the final acceptors.
The final field for the Albury Gold Cup is set to be announced on Wednesday morning followed by the official barrier draw at the Commercial Club commencing at 10am.
Both Tyler Schiller and Blaike McDougall have committed to riding over both days of the carnival with the pair having a full book of rides on Thursday.
Schiller is a previous winner of the Albury Gold Cup aboard the Mark Newnham-trained Harmony Rose two years ago.
McDougall is yet to get his name on the honour roll.