Melbourne Cup Given Koukash Magic Touch

[Wandering Eyes]

WERRIBEE, Australia—One man who could be forgiven for being a little bleary-eyed at Sunday’s Lexus Melbourne Cup breakfast press call was Charlie Fellowes, who had enjoyed the biggest win of his career less than 24 hours earlier. Victory for A Prince Of Arran (GB) (Shirocco {Ger}) in the G3 Lexus S. on Victoria Derby Day at Flemington was not just a first Group win for the trainer but it also means he is set to have his first runner in Tuesday’s G1 Lexus Melbourne Cup.

For a horse that has run in Dubai, America, Britain and now Australia within the last ten months, A Prince Of Arran continues to take his racing well and the trainer said that he’d pulled out a lot brighter than he did on Sunday—but then the gelding wasn’t cavorting on the dance floor in Club 23 until the small hours. Instead, he ate all of his food, had a good rest and trotted up sound.

“At no point was it easy viewing,” admitted Fellowes after Saturday’s race, which was delayed for ten minutes after power was lost on the photo finish camera and a rival contender spread a plate at the starts. “But we know he stays and although he does get lazy in front we knew that if something had come to him he’d pick up again. This is the biggest win of my career, my first Group winner, and this means more than getting into the Cup, though that’s amazing of course and we’ll try to enjoy the next few days and the build-up as much as we can.”

The Cup picture changed on Saturday in more ways than one. Red Verdon (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who had suffered a bruised heel on Wednesday, was scratched from the race during the afternoon by trainer Ed Dunlop. This made way for last year’s fifth-place finisher Nakeeta (GB) (Sixties Icon {GB}), who had been bumped out of the race by A Prince Of Arran, to regain his position in the line-up.

Godolphin, who enjoyed a fantastic 24 hours over the weekend at the Breeders’ Cup and at Flemington, where James Cummings had three Group winners on Derby day, will have three runners for three different trainers. The G1 Caulfield Cup winner Best Solution (Ire) (Kodiac {GB}) will effectively carry the first colours for Saeed Bin Suroor’s stable, while the Cummings-trained Avilius (GB) (Pivotal {GB}) will have the white cap and Charlie Appleby’s 3-year-old Cross Counter (GB) (Teofilo {Ire}) has the red. The two ‘international’ contenders from the trio, Cross Counter and Best Solution, were among the first out for an easy canter on the sand track at Werribee on Sunday morning. Cross Counter and his fellow 3-year-old Rostropovich (Ire) (Frankel {GB}) will carry joint-bottom weight of 51kg and, like last year’s winner Rekindling (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}), both are considered 4-year-olds by southern hemisphere time.

While Rostropovich took his lead around Werribee from his older stablemate Idaho (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), his two fellow Ballydoyle runners in the Cup, the enigmatic Yucatan (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Thecliffsofmoher (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) paired up for an easy spin, with Yucatan out in front and moving very easily. At Epsom and Ascot this summer he has played the whipper-in role in the Coronation Cup and the Wolferton S., but Yucatan’s sole Australian start, when eased down to stroll across the line for a facile G2 Herbert Power S. victory, means that he approaches Tuesday as the short-priced favourite and has James McDonald as partner.

Nick Williams, part-owner of both Yucatan and Thecliffsofmoher and seeking a third consecutive victory in the race, explained that the decision to have Ballydoyle’s retained jockey Ryan Moore on the latter is merely because he knows Thecliffsofmoher well and the horse is considered to be less straightforward than his stablemate. Williams also urged the groundsmen to turn on the taps at Flemington after fast ground for Derby day but his wish may be granted by a higher power as it’s set to rain in Melbourne midway through Monday and into Cup day.

One horse who will cope well if the ground eases is Marmelo (GB) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}), who was the Cup favourite 12 months ago and finished ninth. Ed and Christabel Goodwin’s homebred, who now has several Australian partners involved in his ownership, could not have looked more content as he trotted around Werribee like a dressage horse under Tom Perry on Sunday morning before enjoying a steady canter on the grass. He has Winx’s jockey Hugh Bowman booked again, as well as a plum draw in gate 10.

“I think the horse learned something last year, and so did we,” said trainer Hughie Morrison. “Everywhere he’s been this year, whether it’s quarantine, aeroplane or here, he’s just more chilled out about everything. It’s good to have a happy horse. Every horse who stays sound and healthy will improve from four to five. His form this year is the same as last year but hopefully he has improved.”

Sheikh Hamdan Al Maktoum has already won the Cup twice—with At Talaq (GB) in 1986 and Jeune (GB) eight years later—the former trained by Colin Hayes and Jeune by the his son David. The owner’s challenger this year will race for Britain’s champion trainer John Gosden for the last time as Muntahaa (GB) (Dansili {GB}) is set to remain in Australia at the Hayes family’s Lindsay Park after the Cup.

With Gosden in Louisville for the Breeders’ Cup, his son Thady has been overseeing the horse’s training at Werribee and, shortly after watching Enable (GB) win the Breeders’ Cup Turf followed by a disappointing swansong for Roaring Lion in the Classic, Gosden Jr took to the stage with Sheikh Hamdan’s racing manager Angus Gold to discuss the chances of the stable adding to what has been a superb year in Europe by saddling the winner of the Melbourne Cup.

He said, “The journey took a little bit out of him but he’s now coming to himself really well and I’d like to think that he’s back to the same sort of form he was in for the Ebor. It’s incredibly exciting to come here. The public involvement in the race is something we don’t have to same extent at home.”

Angus Gold added, “He won the Ebor very well, he’s a 5-year-old gelding and he hasn’t got a lot of miles on the clock so it made sense to aim him for Melbourne. We’ve sent horses down to Australia before who wouldn’t have had anything like the class of this horse.

“This is a different way of racing. They’ve got to take to it—some of them absolutely thrive and others just don’t take to it all. He either will or he won’t but there’s no point us worrying about it, and jumping from 13 he has plenty of options.”

As colourful as the Melbourne Cup Carnival is, it’s fair to say that it has never produced a press conference quite as startling as that staged on Sunday morning once the microphone was pointed at Dr Marwan Koukash. The flamboyant owner had earlier promised that he would take to the winner’s enclosure wearing nothing but a G-string should his Magic Circle (Ire) (Makfi {GB}) win the A$7.3 million race and he appears to be intending to keep his word.

“It’s going to happen,” he warned on Sunday morning, before producing a red G-string from his jeans pocket. “It’s not a threat, it’s a promise.”

Magic Circle has been seen in action only twice this year when handing out a six-length thrashing to his rivals in the G3 Henry II S. on May 24, just less than a fortnight after he won the Chester Cup. He comes to Melbourne a fresh horse, though perhaps not as fresh as his owner.

“I was hoping for a top three finish but to do what he did against Group horses, not handicappers, took us by surprise,” admitted Koukash. “That’s when we started thinking that not only did we have a horse who could run in the Melbourne Cup but one that could go there with a serious chance.

“I’ve gone on record many times saying that there are only two Cups I’d love to win—one is the Chester Cup and the other is the Melbourne Cup. I’m not being disrespectful to Royal Ascot but the Melbourne Cup Carnival is the greatest show on earth and you’d have to be a miserable bastard not to enjoy being here.”

 

Eyeing his owner slightly warily as he sat alongside, trainer Ian Williams, pointing at the Melbourne Cup positioned tantalisingly close to the podium, said, “Who cares what Marwan does, I just want to get my hands on that big boy.”

He continued, “I think this horse is a very, very competitive stayer. He’s certainly got the stamina but what he also has is an incredible turn of foot. We’ve been criticised for not running him more this season but we wanted to keep him for here. It’s been quite a revelation with him—back home he got a little bit quiet and just accepted his work but once he went into quarantine he was like a 2-year-old again and since he’s been out here he’s been wild, not dissimilar to how Marwan behaves.”

Taking his cue, Koukash insisted on the last word. “I’ve been training for the last six months and I am now a lot more desirable,” he said. “I’ve lost 25kgs and I actually do look good in my G-string. When I look at myself in the mirror now I quite fancy myself. I think my wife thinks I won’t do it and she’ll probably divorce me but it’s a lot easier finding a new wife than it is to win the Melbourne Cup.”

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