by Jimmie, Star Racing Writer

TRAINER Richard Azan's MELINDAGATA gets the perfect distance and an outside draw to go all the way in tomorrow afternoon's 1100-metre Howard Phillips Memorial Cup.

The four-year-old filly showed good speed on last to chase hot favourite YOSHI down the backstretch and into the lane before 17-1 outsider SANKOFA collared them both inside the final furlong at 1100 metres on January 13.

Running at odds of 9-1, MELINDAGATA never allowed YOSHI to settle on the lead in quick splits of 46.4, signalling that she has finally settled down.

Azan's runner has looked really sharp at the back-end of last season after being sparingly raced throughout the summer, starting only once, late July when she reared at the gate and didn't return until September when her form picked up.

FREE FALL, Anthony Nunes' TALLAWAH and MAGDALAH have all been outsped by MELINDAGATA in recent races and will again find it hard to stop the speedy filly, who clocked a solid 23.4 when galloping two furlongs on the round course at exercise two Saturdays ago.

TALLAWAH finished ahead of MELINDAGATA on December 26 when both were beaten by SHIVOYNE at 1300 metres but Azan's runner was still three lengths ahead of Nunes' filly with a furlong to run.

Jackpots at $1.5m

There were no major upsets on Saturday's 10-race card but losing bankers such as SIR KHAN and CORDITE combined with market springer LIBERTADOR to crush all Pick-9 bets.

As expected, the easier Super-6 was collared, spotted by 78 winning tickets, each paying $15,554.

A quartet of trainers, Azan, Dennis Lee, Otis Burke and Junior Parker, are poised to land two-timers, which should be utilised by Super-6 and Pick-9 players hunting guaranteed payouts of $500,000 and $1m, respectively.

In addition to MELINDAGATA, in the feature event, Azan should also meet the debutant MAGNIFICO in the winners' enclosure.

A half-brother to ACHILLES. MAGNIFICO has looked advanced at exercise, galloping 1:01.0 from the gate out of the mile chute before eased down and completing a good prep for 1400 metres.

Dennis Lee's in-form barn of claimers should again come good as DON'T STAY NAKED was only beaten by the very fit SIR KHAN when last out and KERMIT has spent exactly a month in jail and is back among $200,00 claiming company, which he had easily put away on January 6.

Burke's LITTLE SNOW JOHN and oldstager SIR MOHANDAS BABA have got the better of their rivals in recent losses and should win the third and eighth races at 1820 metres and a mile, respectively.