Luncies ready to break winless streak for Kris Lees

The Newcastle trainer has Luncies in the Lord Mayor's Cup (1800m) and Kalapour in the Premier's Cup (2400m) on the program headlined by the group 1 Queensland Derby and Kingsford Smith Cup.

Both runners have Blake Shinn aboard and were well in the market on Friday, with Luncies a $4 TAB favourite and Kalapour a $3.80 second elect to Serpentine ($3.50).

Luncies is on a streak of three second placings in strong company, including a fast-finishing quarter-of-a-length runner-up effort to Commando Hunt in the Scone Cup (1600m) when resuming two weeks ago.

The six-year-old Great Britain import has and a total of eight placings without a win across his past 17 starts. His only victory in Australia was in May 2021 at Hawkesbury but he has still managed to win about $630,000 since coming to Lees' stable.

The encouraging return at Scone, the step up to 1800m and a handy draw in six have Luncies set for a breakthrough.

"It looks a nice option for him," Lees said.

"He's in good order. Look, he doesn't win out of turn but he never runs bad either.

"He got home really well at Scone. He was strong through the line and he's come on the right way since that, so I think he's in a good space.

"He's got a good draw and should get a nice run in the race, he gets a good jockey, so he gets a few ticks."

Stablemate Bellatrix Black was in the same race but was scratched on Friday.

Kalapour is a last-start winner of the group 3 Chairman's Handicap (2000m) at Doomben but was second the start before to Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained Serpentine at Eagle Farm over 2200m.

Serpentine will carry a kilogram less and Kalapour 2.5kg more than the last time they clashed. Serpentine (gate nine) also has a better draw than Kalapour (13) and the services of Tim Clark, who took Lees' charge to victory in the Chairman's Handicap.

Lees hoped Serpentine would not be given an easy time up front.

"He's done really and he won well the other day," he said of Kalapour. "The horse that beat him the start before meets us better at the weights, so it's a bit of an ask, but I think he'll still run very well. The concern would be if Gai's horse got a really soft lead, like it did the other day, but otherwise he's in a good spot."

At Randwick, Lees has Tavisan, Our Candidate and Ella Te Ama facing tough assignments.

"It looks a hot race, I don't know if it could beat that field," he said of Tavisan.

"Our Candidate is first-up and probably needs the run, while Ella Ta Ama will run well in what looks a hard race."

On Sunday, he has Rogue Bear and Baltic Coast as his best hopes in the Gunnedah Cup - a qualifier for the $3 million Big Dance. His others are Sailor and Five Crowns.

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