Melbourne Cup Line-up Continues To Shift

[Wandering Eyes]

WERRIBEE, Australia—As Flemington prepares for Saturday’s AAMI Victoria Derby day, featuring four Group 1 contests, the manoeuvring for Tuesday’s G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup continues.

The Andrew Balding-trained Duretto (GB) (Manduro {Ger}) was ruled out earlier this week with a stress fracture and on Thursday morning Red Verdon (Lemon Drop Kid) did not appear on the Werribee training track having been found to be suffering with a bruised heel. The 5-year-old represents Ed Dunlop and Ronald Arculli, who came so close to Cup glory with Red Cadeaux (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}), and he will be reassessed by a Racing Victoria vet ahead of final acceptances for the race on Saturday.

Nakeeta (GB) (Sixties Icon {GB}), the first Scottish-trained runner in the Cup who was fifth last year, is now one place away from gaining a run on Tuesday but he could yet shuffle back down the order depending on the outcome of two of Saturday’s races.

The G3 Lexus S. provides a last chance for ten horses to be granted a place in the Melbourne Cup line-up and these include A Prince Of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}), who is currently 28th in the order to make the field of 24.

The gelding has done much to raise the profile of Newmarket trainer Charlie Fellowes. In February he became the first winner for Fellowes at the Dubai International Racing Carnival and he was also third in the G2 Belmont Gold Cup before returning to England to finish runner-up to Withhold (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) in the Northumberland Plate. Since heading out on his travels again he has run once in Australia, taking third in the G2 Herbert Power S.

“He’s been the most remarkable horse because if you’d told me when he was two years old where he’d be in four years’ time I’d have laughed at you,” said Fellowes at Werribee on Thursday morning after watching his contender at exercise. “He was a nightmare as a 2-year-old colt because he was such a handful, and to do what he’s done this year—win in Dubai, place in America, second in the Northumberland Plate and to come here—I wouldn’t have predicted it because he’s a bit of a character, but he really seems to thrive on all the travelling.”

For Fellowes, it is a first return to Australia since he spent time working for multiple Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Lee Freedman a decade ago.

He added, “Lee was a great guy to work for and I did a bit of travelling while I was here so it was a good experience. I saw first hand how incredible this race is and how it captures everyone’s imagination so I was very keen to come back and have a runner in the race.”

A win on Saturday for A Prince Of Arran would deliver that dream for Fellowes less than five years into his training career but the horse now at the head of the market for Tuesday is his Herbert Power conqueror Yucatan (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who, should he oblige, would deliver the Cup to owner Lloyd Williams for the third year in a row.

Fifteen years ago, Yucatan’s dam Six Perfections (Fr) (Celtic Swing {GB}) won the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile and his trainer Aidan O’Brien is currently overseeing his team of runners at Churchill Downs before jumping on a plane to Melbourne. O’Brien was only too delighted to settle for second last year with Johannes Vermeer (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) when he was beaten half a length by his son Joseph’s runner Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}), but with Latrobe (Ire) (Camelot {GB}) ruled out of a Cup tilt, O’Brien junior has no representative in 2018, while his father’s trio is completed by Thecliffsofmoher (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who will be ridden by Ryan Moore, and Rostropovich (Ire) (Frankel {GB}). Wayne Lordan will ride the latter while Godolphin’s former jockey James McDonald is booked for Yucatan, who will carry a 2.5kg penalty for his Herbert Power win.

Yucatan led a quintet of Ballydoyle horses from the quarantine barn at Werribee on Thursday morning as they trotted a lap of the track before he and Thecliffsofmoher broke free from the group for a strong canter around the sand.

Two of the Godolphin fancies, Cross Counter (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) and G1 Caulfield Cup winner Best Solution (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}), were among those having an easy stretch on the Werribee sand on Thursday while their trainers Charlie Appleby and Saeed Bin Suroor are also otherwise engaged in Louisville.

John Gosden, who will saddle Sheikh Hamdan’s Muntahaa (GB) (Dansili {GB}) at Flemington, is also on Breeders’ Cup duty but his son Thady is already in Australia to oversee the preparation of the Ebor winner, who was ridden by Jim Crowley in a sharp piece of work.

“It’s the first time I’ve sat on him since he won the Ebor and he feels great,” said Crowley, who has found his feet in Australia by riding two winners at Bendigo on Thursday. “John Gosden’s team is in great order but it’s a big ask to come down here, though he seems to have settled in well.”

Back in Melbourne on Thursday morning, VRC Chairman Amanda Elliott and Victorian Minister for Racing Martin Pakula cut the ribbons to declare Flemington’s new Club Stand officially open ahead of four days of Carnival action at the course. With a fourth-floor roof garden overlooking the Flemington straight and Melbourne’s cityscape, the A$128 million development with a range of restaurants and bars is a stunning addition to the facilities at the historic track.

“There has never been a more exciting year for the Victoria Racing Club,” said Elliott. “Six years ago we set out to build a new members’ stand that would not only celebrate the incredible rich heritage and character of the VRC, but would evolve the raceday experience and change the expectations of racegoers forever. The vision is realised, the game-changing moment has arrived.”

 

 

View the full article