Ballarat Cup live coverage: a complete wrap of the day's racing

However, with 13 scratchings slashings the race to six starters he secured a run and took full advantage by bring up his fourth career win.

And just as the day started on a winning note for Ballarat trainers, the 4yo did the same being from the Henry Dwyer stable.'

Brung King had not raced since the start of July, but showed the benefit of running fresh.

Atmosphere (Jamie Kah) dictated terms in front, but had no answer to the last 200m of Brung King.

Michael Hickmott made up for a miss back in his home state of South Australia earlier in the day by taking out the $150,000 Ballarat Volkswagen Tonks Plate, 1110m.

Taunting (Ted Nugent) made the early running before going away with the feature open sprint of the day.

Sacred Place (Beau Mertens) and Zac De Boss (Will Price) filled the minor placings.

Hickmott ad to settle for a second with favourite Humboldt at Morphettville, but more than made up for it on the home track of his older brother and trainer Robert Hickmott.

It was a second Cup Day feature win in a row for Taunting, which saluted in the $175,000 Apache Cat at Cranbourne.

Horsham galloper Captain Envious has run away with the listed $500,000 Sportsbet Ballarat Cup, 2000m.

The Paul Presuker-trained Captain Envious ($3.70 favourite) put a space on his rivals with a quick turn of foot on a heavy9 track.

He scored by 2.5 lengths over top weight Young Werther (Bill Egan), with Just Folk (John Allen) getting third.

Captain Envious also completed a treble for jockey Michael Dee.

The five-year-old, which was having his 16^th start, settled near last in the nine-strong field before cutting loose.

Finishing order:

3.70 Captain Envious (Michael Dee)

6.50 Young Werther (Billy Egan)

5.00 Just Folk (John Allen)

Then followed:

20.00 En Francais

14.00 Swords Drawn

6.50 Red Sun Sensation

26.00 Regal Power

4.60 Foxy Cleopatra

41.00 Midnight Blue

Scratched: Foujita San, Ain'tnodeeldun, Skelm, Wicklow

.2.5l3n, x.0.75len

Ciaron Maher and David Eustace provided another hometown link by capturing the $175,000 Magic Millions Ballarat 3yo& 4yo Classic, 1100m.

The Cranbourne-based Baroque Road (Jamie Mott) made most of the running did not look like getting run down in the closing stages.

Stupendo (Jamie Kah) and the winner's stablemate A Little Deep (Ben Allen) filled third after finishing second in the same race last year.

David Eustace, who in his training partnership with Maher has stables in Ballarat as part of a two-state operation, said Baroque Road might find its way to the Gold Coast for the Magic Millions Carnival next month.

Baroque Road is a 4yo, which now boasts four wins in 11 starts and three wins on end.

The previous two wins in the sequence came before a freshen up in August.

First it was the McEvoys and jockey Harry Coffey who dominated with a treble in the opening three races of the day.

Now it's the turn of Team Hayes and jockey Michael Dee.

They completed a running double with Reset The Jazz, which led all-the-way in the $80,000 McKellar Mile, 1600m.

Fighting Arrow (Craig Newitt) filled second, with Whakamana (Craig Williams) third.

Co-trainer Ben Hayes was full of praise for the five-year-old.

He said Reset The Jazz had now won four times since returning from a tendon injury.

Hayes said although the gelding was looking fitter he was considering giving the gelding a break.

Independent Road produced an emotional victory for the stable of Ben, Will and JD Hayes in the Global Turf Benchmark84 Handicap, 2200m.

Connections, including a syndicate managed by Ballarat racing enthusiast Dennis Foley, are mourning the death of fellow owner Tom Payne in the past week.

A last-start Ballan Cup winner, Independent Road (Michael Dee) shared the frontrunning and then fought back courageously after being headed to take the lead in the last few strides.

The Matt Cumani-trained Typhoon Bec (Carleen Hefel) finished hard for second, with Glitter N Gold (Tom Madden) third after looking like a winner when he swooped late down the outside.

Foxy Cleopatra has returned to favouritism for the Ballarat Cup.

Latest Sportsbet fixed market: (2pm)

4.00 Foxy Cleopatra

4.50 Captain Envious

5.00 Young Werther

5.50 Red Sun Sensation

6.50 Just Folk

13.00 Swords Drawn

15.00 En Francais

26.00 Regal Power

32.00 Midnight Blue

The track has been downgraded again - now a SOFT7.

Ballarat jockey John Allen kept the hometown winning theme going on My Yankee Girl in the Ritchie's IGA Benchmark78 Handicap for mares, 1200m.

Allen hugged the rail on the Vincent Malady-trained 5yo mare to come from the back of the field and run down the leaders.

Prairie Flower (Mitch Aitken) was second for Ballarat trainer Henry Dwyer and Holly Lolly (Clinton McDonald) third.

Hometown hope Skelm is a late scratching from the Ballarat Cup.

Coghills Creek Terry Kelm had planned to launch Skelm's comeback in the Cup, with him having been sidelined since bowing a tendon early last year.

Kelly indicated earlier in the week that Skelm would not go the races if the track was rain affected,

Foujita San and Ain'tnodeeldun are also late scratchings from the Cup, reducing the field to nine.

All late scratchings:

Race 4:

2 DANNY'S ST DARCI (Track Downgrade 1255)

3 JENNY JEROME (Track Downgrade 1316)

7 SHOHEI (Track Downgrade 1300)

Race 5:

4 HARMYSIAN (GB) (Track Downgrade 1220)

5 VARDANI (FR) (Track Downgrade 1321)

Race 6:

13 PODENTE (Track Downgrade 1310)

Race 7:

2 PHILOSOPHER (Track Downgrade 1228)

9 ZABEELIST (Track Downgrade 1247)

10 VEECEE (Track Downgrade 1243)

Race 8: BALLARAT CUP

4 AIN'TNODEELDUN (Track Downgrade 1319)

7 SKELM (Track Downgrade 1234)

13 FOUJITA SAN (Track Downgrade 1230)

Race 9:

11 SEBONACK (Track Downgrade 1230)

Race 10:

4 MY BOY BIRMINGHAM (Track Downgrade 1303)

5 DUBAI POET (GB) (Track Downgrade 1319)

15 TONNEOFGRIT (Track Downgrade 1230)

It's the McEvoy and Coffey day.

The Ballarat father and son training partnership of Tony and Calvin McEvoy, and jockey Harry Coffey completed a treble with Give Giggles in the A Grade Sheds Benchmark Handicap, 1100m.

The 4yo mare thrashed her rivals by 3.5 lengths.

Caboll (Declan Bates) led home the rest of the field, with Cavallo Rampante (Ben Allen) third.

Promising filly Arabian Summer outclassed her rivals to capture the $250,000 Magic Millions Ballarat 2yo Classic, 1000m.

She raced away by 3.5 lengths to give the Ballarat stable of Tony and Calvin McEvoy a running double in the opening two events.

Despite running on a soft5, the $220,000 purchase as a yearling ran just outside the track record of 56.44 - clocking 56.7 seconds.

It also completed a double for jockey Harry Coffey.

Parkour (Jamie Kah) was second, with Vianarra (John Allen) as close up third.

Tony McEvoy described the performance as "super impressive".

He said she had shown the benefits of a second and third in black type races in her only other starts.

McEvoy said they would allow the dust to settle after the run before deciding whether to take Arabian Summer to the Gold Coast Magic Millions 2yo Classic in January.

The track has been downgraded to a SOFT5 after the opening race.

With the downgrade, late scratchings have started to be lodged.

Race 4: 2 DANNY'S ST DARCI (Track Downgrade 1255)

Race 5:4 HARMYSIAN (GB) (Track Downgrade 1220)

Race 7:2 PHILOSOPHER (Track Downgrade 1228) 9 ZABEELIST (Track Downgrade 1247) 10 VEECEE (Track Downgrade 1243)

Race 8:7 SKELM (Track Downgrade 1234) 13 FOUJITA SAN (Track Downgrade 1230)

Race 9:11 SEBONACK (Track Downgrade 1230)

Race 10:15 TONNEOFGRIT (Track Downgrade 1230)

Ballarat trainers Tony and Calvin McEvoy started the day on a winning note with Sunset Dreaming taking out the $175,000 Portable Buildings by Design VOBIS Gold 3yo Eureka Stockade, 1400m.

The filly was given the run of the race by Harry Coffey on the back of two pacemakers and then did her best work over the last 100m to draw away.

Canyonlads (Jamie Kah) was second, with Mont Saint Michel (Zac Spain) third.

It gave Sunset Dreaming the third win of her first campaign - all in Ballarat - and took her earnings to $190,000.

Tony McEvoy said Sunset Dreaming had found herself settling too far back in her latest runs and having blinkers added had allowed her to focus better.

He said he instructed jockey Coffey to be aggressive on her and this approach had paid off as she toughed it out.

Coffey was rapt with the run, happy to "stalk" the two main dangers before moving to the outside and asking for an effort.

He praised the condition of the track.

"They've done a great job, It's in great shape."

Coffey said unfortunately with the constant rain it would deteriorate.

He expects it to chop out on the inside.

Horsham-trained Captain Envioushas firmed into favouritism for the Ballarat Cup.

He is $5 at fixed odds with Sportsbet and $4.80 with the TAB.

Latest Sportsbet market:

5.00 Captain Envious

5.50 Foxy Cleopatra

6.50 Young Werther, Red Sun Sensation

7.00 Ain'tnodeeldun

8.00 Just Folk

17.00 Swords Drawn

18.00 En Francais, Foujita San

26.00 Regal Power

46.00 Midnight Blue

81.00 Skelm

Race 2:

3 Wolfgang

Race 3:

1 Screwed Down

3 Mamaragan

8 Starz Barwon

16 Explosive Thinker

Race 4:

8 Frenchmans Bay

Race 5:

2 Convener

7 Wyclif

Race 6:

3 Crackerjack Prince

5 Blue Cup

8 Typhoon Harmony

9 Big Brew

14 Ziggi Rocks

18e Extra Elusive

Race 7:

4 Zou Sensation

11 Magic Mogul

Race 8 - BALLARAT CUP:

9 Wicklow

Race 9:

1 Beau Rossa

5 Struck By

Race 10:

3 Imperial Lad

9 Healing Oasis

10 Lafargue

13 Beehunter

14 Robusto

17e Mister Yu Shu