Advantage Jenni in Saturday's Doomben Cup
Saturday’s Gr.1 Doomben Cup (2000m) was reduced to just seven runners at final acceptances on Tuesday in a scenario that might best suit the thrilling front-running mare Pride Of Jenni (Pride Of Dubai).
The first four home in Pride Of Jenni’s Gr.2 Hollindale Stakes (1800m) win all accepted, including the Cups champion Half Yours, but there were only a handful of new players on the scene for Saturday’s $1 million race at final acceptance after 39 horses were originally nominated for the race.
Vauban takes his chance back to 2000 metres while the former New Zealand Derby winner Asterix (NZ) (Tavistock) comes into the mix, as does stablemate and former Queensland Derby winner Kovalica (NZ) (Ocean Park).
Their presence and that of the highly-rated four from the Hollindale – Pride Of Jenni, Birdman, She’s A Hustler and Half Yours – seems to have deterred others from attempting the season’s final Group One at 2000 metres.
The surprisingly small field may well serve Pride Of Jenni’s imposing style of carving out strong sectionals from the jump.
In recent seasons, she’s dominated some small-field races such as the 2024 Feehan Stakes (four runners) and the 2025 Feehan (six runners) as well as last year’s Peter Young Stakes (six runners).
GROUP 1 DOOMBEN CUP (2000 metres)
Half Yours (7)
Vauban (6)
Asterix (2)
Birdman (5)
Kovalica (1)
Pride Of Jenni (4)
She’s A Hustler (3)
