Evergreen Fawkner Heads Underwood

The G1 Underwood S. is one of the more important early indicators of the Melbourne Spring Carnival, and is often used as a springboard by top-class horses to the G1 Cox Plate and G1 Caulfield Cup, both A$3 million contests staged next month. Two of the last five G1 Cox Plate winners–So You Think (NZ) and Ocean Park (NZ)–used a win in the Underwood as a springboard, and three winners of the Underwood since 2000 have gone on to take the Caulfield Cup. Saturday’s edition of the Underwood sees the 2013 Caulfield Cup winner Fawkner (Aus) (Reset {Aus}) get the early nod in the betting after his first-up score in the G1 Makybe Diva S. two weeks ago.

The 8-year-old showed no signs of rust on that occasion, having not run since last November’s G1 Melbourne Cup, and there is no reason to believe he isn’t back to the form that saw him win the Caulfield Cup as well as last year’s G1 Caulfield S., after which he finished second in the Cox Plate. Another who made a good showing in the Makybe Diva was the 4-year-old Mongolian Khan (Aus) (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}), who closed well before checking in seventh at a trip well short of his best. The winner of last season’s G1 New Zealand Derby and G1 Australian Derby is likely to find this trip too short still, but is handed a good draw. Godolpin’s Contributer (Ire) (High Chaparral {Ire}), made a big impression when taking the G1 Chipping Norton S. and G1 Ranvet S. last season but disappointed in fifth on seasonal reappearance in the G2 Dato’ Tan Chin Nam S. Sept. 5. He is another who will continue to appreciate the added distance.