Group 1 winning colt Bivouac has been installed as the odds on favourite to beat the older horses in the 2019 Group 1 $1m Ladbrokes Manikato Stakes (1200m) at The Valley on Friday night.

Bivouac, above, is the odds on favourite for the 2019 Manikato Stakes at The Valley. Photo by Steve Hart.

Bivouac, above, is the odds on favourite for the 2019 Manikato Stakes at The Valley. Photo by Steve Hart.

Bivouac claimed Group 1 glory when he beat the three year olds in the $1m De Bortoli Wines Golden Rose (1400m) at Rosehill on September 28 and now trainer James Cummings is keen to test the Exceed And Excel colt against the older sprinters at weight for age.

“We saw a G1 performance from him in the Golden Rose and he’s had a month between runs to get himself back together and ensure that he’s ready for another G1 performance,” Cummings said.

“The biggest test will be racing against the older horses. He’s got to prove he’s up to the task.”

“He’s a three-year-old against older horses in this race, but I think he’s shown that he’s a very good three-year-old.”

“It’s no easy feat at this early stage of the season to beat the older horses, but over the years the record of three-year-olds has been quite good.”

Trainer Chris Waller proved that the early season three year olds were able to beat the older horses in the weight for age sprints with Yes Yes Yes setting a course record when he downed the colours of a first class field of sprinters in winning the $14m The Everest (1200m) at Randwick last Saturday.

Cummings is not worried about four weeks in between runs for Bivouac who has had a jump out since the Golden Rose to keep up to the mark.

“He’s looking great, his training has been excellent. A little jump out last week kept him ticking over and I think he’ll handle the Valley quite well,” Cummings said.

Bivouac has drawn the inside barrier in the eleven horse Manikato Stakes field and will be ridden by Kerrin McEvoy taking over from Golden Rose winning jockey Hugh Bowman whose riding weight doesn’t allow him to ride at the 53kg that the three year old colt has to carry at weight for age.

Bookies at Ladbrokes.com.au have Bivouac as the dominant $1.80 favourite for the Manikato Stakes, well ahead of his nearest rival in the betting, The Bostonian at $6.50.

Two three-year-old fillies are also taking on the older horses and under the weight for age scale will carry 51kg with Tim Clark taking the ride on the Peter and Paul Snowden trained Anaheed (barrier 11) and Craig Williams will be piloting the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace trained Loving Gaby (barrier 2).

Betting for the 2019 Manikato Stakes at Ladbrokes.com.au: $1.80 Bivouac, $6.50 The Bostonian, $9 Trope, $9.50 Loving Gaby, $15 Anaheed, $16 Faatinah, $18 Vital Silver, $26 Rock Magic, $41 Winter Bride, $61 Meryl, $81 Ashlor.

Final field for the 2019 Manikato Stakes (1200m)

No Last 10 Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight Hcp Rating
1 x5451x153x ROCK MAGIC Chris Gangemi Jarrad Noske 5 58.5kg 104
2 525x110x93 THE BOSTONIAN (NZ) Tony Pike Damian Lane 3 58.5kg 114
3 6481320×14 FAATINAH David & B Hayes & T Dabernig Jamie Kah 8 58.5kg 106
4 614174×456 ASHLOR Dan McCarthy Daniel Stackhouse 7 58.5kg 97
5 11213x13x4 VITAL SILVER Daniel & Ben Pearce Ben Melham 9 58.5kg 100
6 1272×22 TROPE Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes Dwayne Dunn 10 58.5kg 99
7 10x13430x0 WINTER BRIDE Toby & Trent Edmonds Tommy Berry 6 56.5kg 105
8 72133×0466 MERYL Lee Curtis Dean Yendall 4 56.5kg 95
9 x3141x1211 BIVOUAC James Cummings Kerrin McEvoy 1 53kg 108
10 51461×9351 ANAHEED Peter & Paul Snowden Tim Clark 11 51kg 95
11 16422×12 LOVING GABY Ciaron Maher & David Eustace Craig Williams 2 51kg 99

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