SIXTEEN YEARS APART, MESSARA SEEKING ANOTHER HOMETOWN CUP
- Provincial Racing NSW
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
PAUL Messara won his hometown Scone Cup back in 2009 with the then four-year-old Obvious Choice.
He has had only one runner since (Mirrasalo ran eighth to Raspberries in 2011 as an $18 chance) and now is looking to land the $200,000 feature again with another talented four-year-old.
The Scone trainer will saddle favorite Know Thyself (Ash Morgan), who is chasing his fifth win on end and backing up six days after capturing last Saturday’s $500,000 The Coast over the same distance at the stand-alone metropolitan meeting, in the Listed event.
The lure of eligibility for the $3m Big Dance (1600m) at Royal Randwick on the first Tuesday in November influenced Messara to seek another Scone Cup, plus the fact Know Thyself has done well since Gosford.
However, he is mindful that his gelding had a hard run in winning The Coast.
“They ran along at a good clip last week, and we had to ride Know Thyself out of his comfort zone to overcome his outside barrier,” Messara said this morning.
“I’d like to see him ridden a bit more conservatively tomorrow.
“Win, lose or draw this will be his last run this preparation.”
Know Thyself, at $2.60 with TAB.com.au this morning, held such dominant favoritism for the Cup that only two other horses were quoted under double figures.
West Of Africa (Chad Schofield) was second favorite at $6.50, with Tavi Time (Jay Ford) next at $8.50.
Whilst it’s futile comparing horses of different eras, there are some interesting similarities between Messara’s 2009 winner Obvious Choice, ridden by Dale Spriggs, and Know Thyself.
Obvious Choice was a four-year-old that year, had won his first two starts and been successful at five of his nine appearances when he lined up at Scone with 53kg.
Know Thyself is the same age, also won his first two starts, has now posted seven wins from his 10 career outings to date, and has only 1kg more.
Annabel and Rob Archibald have withdrawn imports Al Mubhir and Sibaaq from the Cup, but still have three representatives.
The couple has second favorite West Of Africa, topweight Port Lockroy (Aaron Bullock) and Redstone Well (Tom Sherry).
The scratchings have given two of the three emergencies, Kadavar (Rachel King) and Royal Supremacy (Harry Coffey) berths in the Cup line-up.
The rail is in the TRUE position for Friday’s eight-race program, and course manager Sam Murray posted a ‘Good 4’ rating at 6.30 am today after the track had received only 1mm of rain in the previous 24 hours.
The rail will go out 2m between the 800m and 400m for Saturday’s 10-race program, which features the Group 3 Arrowfield Dark Jewel Classic (1400m) for fillies and mares and four Listed events.
Story John Curtis, May 15, 2025 - Pics Bradley Photos