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Scratchings decimated the Moonee Valley meeting on Saturday on a rain-affected track.
Poor blood result outs Gold Trip
Scratched on the eve of last year's Cox Plate with Racing Victoria vets holding concerns with a lameness issue, Gold Trip was due to make his Victorian debut in the Chandler Macleod Handicap (2040m).
Trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace put Gold Trip through numerous tests following the Cox Plate scratching and took the entire to Sydney for his first Australian start, finishing third in the Listed Winter Challenge at Rosehill last month.
After undergoing scans on his hind legs back in Victoria on Tuesday and being given the all-clear to run by Victorian authorities, Gold Trip was withdrawn on Friday over an unrelated matter.
Maher and Eustace issued a statement via Twitter on Saturday that Gold Trip had an unsatisfactory blood result, adding it would not affect his spring campaign.
"Just to confirm, Gold Trip was scratched from today's race after returning an unsatisfactory blood test yesterday afternoon. It should only be a minor setback for his Spring campaign, but we will continue to monitor this closely," the statement read.
Clarity lands debut win
Pat Carey remembers well the win of 250/1 outsider Abaridy in the Caulfield Guineas during the 1980's.
Debutant Clarity may not have started at those cricket score odds in the Ladbrokes Plate (1200m), but there is an association between the pair.
Abaridy was prepared by Steve Watkins who bred and owns Clarity, while Carey has had success with a number of Watkins-owned horses.
Carey trains Clarity's half-brother Crestani, a winner of four races while he also prepared the dam of the pair, Crestor Condor.
"Steve will be pretty proud about that win," Carey said.
"Both Crestani and now Clarity won on debut, and that's about where the similarity ends.
"That's a city win for her, and it was at set-weights. It was a good win, she was well ridden (by Blaike McDougall) and a lot of the credit goes to the people who bred her, own her and the staff at home."
Carey said Clarity was among nominations for the Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield in October but would be guided by the filly's progress before deciding if she heads in that direction.
Mankayan lands third win of campaign
Mankayan gave Ciaron Maher and David Eustace a race-to-race treble in the Chandler Macleod Handicap after earlier wins with Fast Witness in the Listed McKenzie Stakes and Mayfair Spirit in the Ranvet Handicap.
The Irish-bred Mankayan has been a model of consistency since arriving in Australia and has finished out of the top three just once in 11 starts for Maher and Eustace.
That one 'miss' was when fourth in the Pakenham Cup last December after which he was spelled and in four runs this campaign Mankayan has gathered three wins and a second.
It was a hard slog for the $1.95 favourite on Saturday who may now head to the Group 3 Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield on September 17.
While Mankayan holds nominations in the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup, Eustace believes Mankayan may be best suited to races at 2000m.
"His trip is the big thing," Eustace said.
"He has stayed a mile-and-a-half, but he has been very good at 2000 metres. For that reason, we have kept him fairly fresh, but he's going to have a run in a nice race now.
"The Naturalism is the most natural progression for him to go to. I would say he'll go to that race and then we can work it out from there."
Quote of the day
"I think they're pricing the trainer more than the horse. He's certainly a colt on the up and internally we thought he was going super." - trainer Liam Howley after Virtuous Circle scored a first-up win at $26 after his maiden win at Mornington in March came at $61.
