Stars Come Out At Werribee
Just minutes after American Pharoah had crossed the line in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Tom Magnier, sporting a jacket bearing the name of Coolmore’s new Triple Crown-winning stallion, addressed the assembled media at Breakfast With The Stars at Werribee and said, “This is the Melbourne Cup. There’s no race anywhere in the world you’d rather win than the Melbourne Cup.”
He added, “Everyone in our industry has a bucket list and the Melbourne Cup has to be on it. It’s one of the great races around the world and when it comes to the excitement and the build-up–there’s no other race like it. It’s a credit to Australia.”
Magnier was speaking after the two Aidan O’Brien-trained Cup runners, Bondi Beach (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Kingfisher (Ire), had breezed on the grass at the international runners’ quarantine center at Werribee racecourse. They timed their run perfectly to allow him to watch Found (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) down the colors of Golden Horn (GB) in the GI Breeders’ Cup Turf and then race back in to the grandstand to see American Pharoah sign off his racing career in style.
Almost half the field for this year’s Emirates Melbourne Cup are trained outside Australia and the 11 international raiders– from Japan, Ireland and the UK–took turns to strut their stuff during a relaxed and fun morning on the outskirts of Melbourne.
First out was the horse that many Australians would accept as readily as a homegrown winner–Red Cadeaux (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}), in partnership with his fellow world traveler Steve Nicholson and leading stablemate and G1 Caulfied Cup runner-up Trip To Paris (GB) (Champs Elysees {GB}) in a strong canter on the grass track.
Trainer Ed Dunlop and his wife Becky are now regular travelers to Melbourne, with this being the fifth time Red Cadeaux has raced in the Cup and his sixth appearance here in total. They were accompanied by a huge team of owners of Trip To Paris, still pinching themselves that their 20,000gns breeze-up purchase has already lifted the G1 Ascot Gold Cup and is now second-favorite to add the Melbourne Cup to his haul.
When asked by a journalist how he would feel if Red Cadeaux were to finish second in the race for a fourth time, Ed Dunlop replied simply, “very proud.” He added, “the team is very happy with the horse. He looks well, his weight is good, his coat is good and he loves it here. Robin [Trevor-Jones] and Steve [Nicholson] deserve all the credit for having him in such fantastic condition.”
“He’s an incredibly popular horse–you know how it is with horses who stay around so long,” Dunlop added. “He’s as much loved in England as he is here in Australia. I stupidly ran him at Royal Ascot so people could see him but he doesn’t like racing there.”
The red-hot favorite is Japanese raider Fame Game (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}), who was keen to go faster than the steady canter his work rider was insisting upon but appeared relaxed in the aftermath as he sauntered around the track for lap after lap.
Max Dynamite (Fr) (Great Journey {Jpn}) looked rock-hard fit under recently retired jump jockey David Casey, now assistant to Ireland’s champion jumps trainer Willie Mullins. This will be Mullins’s third attempt at one of flat racing’s greatest prizes, but a rookie in Melbourne is dual Classic-winning trainer Michael Bell, who has brought with him his Goodwood Cup winner, the 17-hand and long-striding Big Orange (GB) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}).
Playfully goading his fellow Newmarket trainer Sir Michael Stoute, Bell said as Big Orange stepped onto the track, “here comes the Melbourne Cup winner.” Stoute, however, was in a jolly mood himself and proclaimed himself happy with the morning work of Snow Sky (GB) (Nayef), who will carry the number one saddlecloth.
“It’s a tough thing to do to carry top weight, but this trip is better for him [than the 12f Caulfield Cup],” he said. “I suppose the statistics are against me, as is the fact that Ryan [Moore] won it last year. But I’m still happy to have Ryan, however he travels from the Breeders’ Cup.”
As Melbourne counts down to its famous ‘race that stops a nation,’ the city center will come to a standstill tomorrow as the annual Melbourne Cup parade makes it way through the streets, with a number of previous winners paraded in hand, while the connections of this year’s runners are driven in open-top cars to Federation Square.
Tom Magnier is right. There really is no other race with a build-up to match the Melbourne Cup.