Skip to Content

McEvoy army to gang tackle Balaklava Cup

Leading trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy have an army of horses nominated for next Wednesday’s $100,000 TQCSI Balaklava Cup (1600m).

The pair have six nominations for the feature as the stable chases its third win in seven years and second in succession as a partnership after Brown Ben scored in 2019.

East Indiaman, Fox Hall, Sign Of Ussuri are among their entries, while Winning Partner will return from Melbourne for the race. The stable is hopeful Thoroughbred Racing SA Dare To Dream horse Blow Torch can sneak into the race down in the ratings.

The interesting runner will be Savatoxl, a former highly-talented Northern Territory galloper who looked super impressive at the Gawler trials last week. Calvin McEvoy said the six could all line up.

“I think they would probably all run if they gain a start,” McEvoy said.

He said the stable had been doing plenty of work with Savatoxl, who has only had one start on the grass when he failed in the Group 3 Fred Best Classic at Eagle Farm last year.

“He obviously brings a real X-factor and his trial was outstanding,” McEvoy said.

“He’s a quirky horse and we’ve obviously spent a lot of time with him working on the grass since he arrived. He we went to the trials as we wanted to see how he handled it under race conditions.

“His trial was outstanding. To beat a Group 3 sprinter (Sisstar) the way he did was super and Jason (Holder) said he did it easily.”

Nicole Bruggerman has former Victorian He Ekscels, who was previously with Richard Laming in Melbourne and was Rosehill winner last June before tackling the Hobart Cup earlier in the year.

Stealthy Lucas was formerly with Victorian trainer Paul Preusker and is poised to debut for Murray Bridge trainer Garret Lynch in the Cup.

The stable will also chase the $20,000 trainer’s bonus by winning the Cup and the benchmark 62 sprint over 1200m with Wedgetail, Maccabee and Zeppa.

Victorian horseman Kevin Corstens has Surreal Image nominated for the Cup while he’ll chase the $20,000 trainer’s bonus trying to also win the sprint with Claptone.

Surreal Image started his career in Adelaide with the Richard Jolly and was placed at Moonee Valley early in August.

Nominations close at noon on Thursday.

Post categories

Racing SA - Racing Racing SA - Stories Racing SA - Latest News