The Cummings name is synonymous with the first Tuesday in November at Flemington, but Anthony Cummings may also have his sights set on Royal Randwick after Caesars Palace put himself into Big Dance contention with a dominant win the $75,000 Coonamble Gold Cup (1600m) at Dubbo on Wednesday.
Starting as a $4.20 equal favourite with online bookmakers, the five-year-old gelding was settled midfield by Aaron Bullock in the 12-horse race.
Looking for a run coming into the final turn, he got his break at the top of the straight and ran on strongly down the middle of the track to claim the lead at the 100m and go on to a two-length win over the other equal favourite, Philipsburg for the James Ponsonby yard.
Coonamble Gold Cup race replay | October 12, 2022 | Caesars Palace (1st)
Now a winner of six of his 28 starts, Caesars Palace was bred by Cummings himself, is a son of his one-time Golden Slipper favourite Casino Prince and is a half-brother Leilani Lodge’s current crack three-year-old, Kote.
After leading into the straight at his previous start at Randwick on August 25, Caesars Palace was ultimately beaten into last by more than 13 lengths over the 1600m trip.
At that stage, a tilt at the opportunity to run in the $2 million Big Dance looked improbable.
“After that poor run last start, we gave him a couple of weeks in the paddock and brought him back and trialled him and he was a little bit fresher,” Cummings said.
“We will even look at doing that with him between now and Big Dance Day.”
Cummings thinks Wednesday’s victory over city winner Philipsburg stands Caesars Palace in good stead heading towards the November 1 finale.
“I think the same again (as he did on Wednesday) is probably good enough to win The Big Dance,” Cummings said.
“The trick is to be there and after that anything can happen. It wasn’t where I was planning to be, but I’ll take it.”
The final field for the inaugural Big Dance will become clearer after this weekend’s Wild Card, which will be run as race two at Royal Randwick on Everest Day.
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