Benagil on path to the Australian Cup

Melbourne trainer Glen Thompson’s talented mare Benagil will ramp up her autumn campaign aimed at winning a second Group 1 with a jump out at Flemington Friday.

The four-year-old Manhattan Rain mare, who won the Group 1 Australasian Oaks in Adelaide last April, raced just three times during the spring with Thompson putting her unplaced run in the Champions Stakes on the final day of the Flemington spring carnival down to the heavy track.

“She has a jump out Friday, then runs a fortnight at Flemington (in the Frances Tressady Stakes) and we’re headed towards the Australian Cup,” Thompson said from the New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale on Tuesday.

“She’s come back well. It’s just a shame she struck that really heavy tracker last run at Flemington, I think that really pulled her up.”

Benagil, who was bred and is raced by former Blue Gum Farm studmaster Phillip Campbell, is one of 12 horses Thompson has in training at Flemington.

He went out on his own after his former training partner Mike Moroney lost his battle with cancer early last year.