French import Harlem has booked himself a spot in the 2017 Caulfield Cup with a dominant win in the Group 3 $150,000 Bendigo Bank East Malvern MRC Foundation Cup (Naturalism Stakes) (2000m) at Caulfield today.
Harlem, above, books a spot in the Caulfield Cup with his win in the Naturalism Stakes at Caulfield. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
Winning jockey Dwayne Dunn saved every bit of ground on the fence from the inside barrier just behind the leading division and after moving out across the leaders heels, raced away to score a three and a quarter lengths win.
The David and Ben Hayes and Tom Dabernig trained stablemate Samovare ($7.50) held her ground to run second with the leader Stampede ($4.40 equal favourite) hanging on for third ahead of the other equal favourite Amelie’s Star.
Co-trainer Ben Hayes said that Harlem would now take his place in the Group 1 $3.15m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 21.
“We have always really liked him. His run in the Heatherlie was excellent, he could have finished second if he had luck,” Hayes said.
“A great ride by Dwayne today. Everything went right and he won very dominantly.”
“We actually thought that this might still be a little on the short side for him today but his form over in Europe was over further so look out for the Caulfield Cup.”
The winner of the Naturalism Stakes gains an automatic entry into the Caulfield Cup and after being number sixty-two in the order of entry with 51kg before today’s race, Harlem will jump to the top of the order.
To back Harlem in the updated Caulfield Cup 2017 odds head to Ladbrokes.com.au now.
2017 Naturalism Stakes Results & Finishing Order
Caulfield Race 7 – 23/09/2017
| Place | # | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Br. | Wgt. | SP |
| 1 | 8 | HARLEM (GB) | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Dwayne Dunn | – | 1 | 56.5kg | $16 |
| 2 | 15 | SAMOVARE | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Noel Callow | 3.25L | 6 | 54kg | $7.50 |
| 3 | 6 | STAMPEDE | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | Beau Mertens (a) | 3.35L | 8 | 58kg | $4.40EF |
| 4 | 9 | AMELIE’S STAR | Darren Weir | Damian Lane | 4.6L | 13 | 56kg | $4.40EF |
| 5 | 10 | ABBEY MARIE | Michael Kent | Luke Nolen | 4.9L | 4 | 55.5kg | $6 |
| 6 | 1 | SIR ISAAC NEWTON (GB) | Robert Hickmott | Damien Oliver | 5.65L | 15 | 59kg | $41 |
| 7 | 2 | TALLY | James Cummings | Michael Walker | 5.85L | 2 | 59kg | $19 |
| 8 | 12 | HARLOW GOLD (NZ) | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Dean Yendall | 6.05L | 12 | 54kg | $21 |
| 9 | 13 | VENGEUR MASQUE (IRE) | Michael Moroney | Patrick Moloney | 6.15L | 10 | 54kg | $61 |
| 10 | 3 | BIG DUKE (IRE) | Darren Weir | John Allen | 6.45L | 9 | 58.5kg | $11 |
| 11 | 14 | MAGNAPAL | Daniel Bowman | Ms Nikita Beriman | 7.7L | 7 | 54kg | $81 |
| 12 | 11 | SECOND BULLET | Danny O’Brien | James Winks | 8.2L | 5 | 54kg | $51 |
| 13 | 4 | ARTICUS (FR) | Darren Weir | Brad Rawiller | 8.3L | 3 | 58kg | $21 |
| 14 | 16 | SETTLER’S STONE | Troy Blacker | Craig Newitt | 8.4L | 14 | 54kg | $151 |
| 15 | 5 | GALLANTE (IRE) | Robert Hickmott | Ms Katelyn Mallyon | 18.4L | 11 | 58kg | $101 |
| – | 7 | BOOM TIME | David & B Hayes & T Dabernig | Cory Parish | – | 0 | – | – |
