Four local runners to contest Albany’s $100,000 WA qualifier of historic Jericho Cup

Four Albany horses will tackle the $100,000 The Road To The Jericho Cup WA Qualifier at Percy Spencer Racecourse on Sunday.

Roy Rogers has two runners entered in the 3100m feature race while Rebecca Bayliss and Gerry Hughes are also represented.

This will be the third edition of the WA qualifier of the race, a new racing venture brought to life by the Albany Racing Club.

The Jericho Cup is run at Warrnambool every year and was first contested in 1918, holding significant war links after arguably Australia’s greatest ever war horse, Bill The Bastard, won the first instalment.

Every race of 3000m or more in Australia and New Zealand has points awarded to the first three Australasian-bred horses over the line in the 12 months leading up to the Jericho Cup, while a number of other events are declared guaranteed start races, including the Albany event.

The Albany qualifier will be run as a 66+ handicap race.

Nine nominations were received for the event, including Geraldton Cup winner Come Right Back.

Come Right Back won the Geraldton Cup on Sunday and was handed 62.5kg as top weight for the Adam Durrant stable.

The other eight horses were given the minimum 54kg.

Artie’s Comet will be ridden by Chris Nicoll and Lisa Staples is aboard Lorraine for the Rogers stable.

Morton’s Fork will start for Bayliss while hoop Beaux Banovic-Edwards is the rider for Hughes’ runner Oddoneout.

The Jericho Cup qualifier will be run at 4.50pm and is the highlight of a seven-race card.

Last year’s edition of the race was initially won by Baronova before the horse was disqualified for having a prohibited substance in her system.

Picture Perfect was promoted to first place as a result.