Melbourne Cup 2008

Fair enough- the two "on the pace horses" slipped my mind for a second there! Think Profound Beauty needs a slight ease in the ground to be seen to best effect (as does her trainer).
 
Galileo said:
This is not going to be a slowly run race, Profound Beauty will have no trouble with fast ground. But she has had a set back (however minor) and needs to improve to beat Septimus.
Click to expand...


When was the setback Gal ? She mightn't need to improve that much, any idea on the weights for Septimus and Profound in Lb's ?
 
Can't see it being a slow run race. Coolmore have established Honolulu as a front runner in the Doncastor Cup. I would imagine that the plan will be for him to take them around at a steady, even but stamina testing pace (as Mahler would have done last year if Scorpion was fit). Septimus will begin to take it up with 800 metres to go and stretch them out from at least 400m out. Make it a true test and, if he's good enough, he'll win.

To be honest, I was very disappointed by the pace in the middle of the Caulfield Cup. Seemed to be a bit of a crawl. The Aussie media seem paranoid about their cup horses ability to stay and I can see why now. I wouldn'e be tempted to back any of them. I'd love to know what the odds are on a European first 3.
 
Gavin Beech​


FOREIGN jockeys riding in the Melbourne Cup on November 4 will face a stern warning about the Australian rules of racing, which outlaw team tactics, according to reports from Australia.

Ballydoyle riders Johnny Murtagh and Colm O'Donoghue each received seven-day bans from the BHA British stewards last month after being found guilty of using ‘team tactics' in the Juddmonte International won by Duke Of Marmalade at Newmarket.

Trainer Aidan O'Brien, who has Septimus, Honolulu and Alessandro Volta in the Melbourne Cup, was accused of failing to give adequate instructions to the riders and hit with a £5,000 (€6,300) fine.

Victoria's chief steward, Terry Bailey, said all the international jockeys would be warned about the local rules.

Bailey said: "Whenever we have foreign jockeys arriving to race over here wealways talk to them about the rules and what we expect from them. We will make clear that every horse has to be ridden to obtain the best finishing position and that this is irrespective of whatever other horses an owner or trainer may have in a race. Wewill speak to them at the earliest possible opportunity."

Former steward John Schreck told The Age that if any rider was caught helping a stablemate then penalties would be severe.

"If there was any suggestion riders from Aidan O'Brien's stable used team tactics in the Melbourne Cup, the sky would fall in on them," he said.

Meanwhile, Aidan O'Brien's leading hope for the race, Septimus, has been the subject of a sensational gambleafter one Australian punter backed the five-year-old to win $2m.

The Darwin-based backer placed a single bet of $400,000 on the 4-1 market leader, the biggest individual bet placed on the Melbourne Cup this year.
 
PM_horse_wideweb__470x312,0.jpg

Septimus, Honolulu and Alessandro Volta at trackwork yesterday.
Photo: Wayne Taylor
ALTHOUGH it has been nearly three weeks since Aidan O'Brien laid eyes on his Melbourne Cup hopes, Septimus, Honolulu and Alessandro Volta, it will be a surprise if he is anything other than satisfied with their condition when he arrives at the Sandown quarantine centre this morning.
Unless O'Brien's assistant trainer Andrew Murphy has managed to keep something from the media since the horses arrived in Melbourne, it is safe to suggest that everything so far has gone according to plan.
The three horses yesterday came through their stiffest test so far the way Murphy predicted, with, for the first time, Septimus having the better of his stablemates in a gallop.
When the trio moved off from the 1600 metres yesterday, it was obvious their normal routine of Alessandro Volta leading out from Honolulu with Septimus dropping out five lengths behind had been replaced with a more aggressive plan.
Alessandro Volta, wearing blinkers, still led with Honolulu in close attendance and Septimus immediately tacking on behind.
At the top of the straight, there was probably only two lengths between them and it was a good dash for home, with Septimus, on the outside, just getting the nod in at the post ahead of Alessandro Volta, with Honolulu, in the middle, only a head away.
For the first time during their stay at Sandown, Septimus returned blowing hard, even more than his stablemates.
It was as if the champion, preparing for the heavyweight title fight, had been given the task of dealing with two sparring partners at the same time.
And heavyweight is the operative word, with Septimus having to carry 58.5 kilograms in the Melbourne Cup next Tuesday, the highest weight since Think Big won the race for the second time in 1975.
"That was really what we wanted," Murphy said.
The trio was timed at one minute 52¼ seconds for the 1600 metres, running the last 800 in 50¾, 600 in 38½ and the final 400 in 26½.
The plan was for the three horses to finish together and Murphy said they would go even faster on Friday, this time under the watchful eye of O'Brien and with their race jockeys in the saddles.
Johnny Murtagh (Septimus), Colm O'Donoghue (Honolulu) and Wayne Lordan (Alessandro Volta) are due to arrive in Melbourne tomorrow.
Murphy was also "very happy" with the state of the track at Sandown yesterday, saying it was on the slower side of good.
He disagreed with the suggestion that Septimus was at his best on slow to heavy tracks.
"He's won on good tracks, too, so I don't think the surface at Flemington is going to bother him."
Murphy said Honolulu and Alessandro Volta were both probably at their best on good ground.
O'Brien arrives in Melbourne after several of his 22 group 1 winners so far this year failed at the Breeders' Cup meeting at Santa Anita in California last Saturday.
Soldier Of Fortune, Duke Of Marmalade and Henrythenavigator were in his star-studded team but he had to settle for a couple of minor placings.
After her good gallop on Saturday with the French-trained Varevees, the Dermot Weld-trained Profound Beauty ran another 2400 metres yesterday at three-quarter pace.
The Danehill mare looks terrific and her handler Dave Phillips said they would continue to step up her work.
"She's moving very well and she does it without any effort," Phillips said.
As the man who looked after Weld's two Melbourne Cup winners Vintage Crop (1993) and Media Puzzle (2002), Phillips has a couple of outstanding comparisons to draw from.
Godolphin's head trainer Saeed bin Suroor arrived in Melbourne yesterday to put the finishing touches to Caulfield Cup winner All The Good for the Melbourne Cup.
All The Good has not done a lot since the Caulfield Cup and travelling foreman Tommy Strang said he would do his final "piece of work" later in the week.
 
"The Age" is the newspaper/website to keep an eye on this.

Or just google "Septimus" and all the newspaper reports come up under the "news" tab.
 
Yellowstone was cast in his box and injured, it's not clear yet how badly, but given his poor prep run too, I wonder if they will run him. Hard luck on Jane C-H who was so looking forward to having a Melbourne Cup runner in her own home country
 
Jane C-H is sure Yellowstone is OK now, as is his regular work rider - but he has to pass the vet again even though he did canter in front of one already. She sounds pretty frustrated by it!
 
Headstrong said:
Jane C-H is sure Yellowstone is OK now, as is his regular work rider - but he has to pass the vet again even though he did canter in front of one already. She sounds pretty frustrated by it!
Click to expand...


Definately frustrated but it looks like Yellowstone runs.

Yellowstone cleared to run in Melbourne Cup
Clinton Payne
Saturday, 1 November 2008
British raider Yellowstone was this morning given a clearance by Racing Victoria veterinary surgeon Paul O’Callaghan to run in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.
Despite being cleared to run Yellowstone’s trainer Jane Chapple-Hyam and jockey John Egan continued their tirade on Racing Victoria’s veterinary practices.
“If the vet can’t decide if the horse is fit after seeing him trot six times then gallop he is a f&#%$@* idiot,” Egan said.
“The vet is just trying to justify his job he has no real confidence in his own decision.
“The horse is better in Australia than back home because of the warmer mornings.”
Chapple-Hyam also took a swipe at the stabling conditions at Sandown’s quarantine centre.
“No wonder he’s been a bit scratchy in the mornings when they stuck us in a concrete box for two weeks,” she said.
“Everyone else has a rubber floor but we had concrete.”
Under an injury cloud since earlier in the week after getting cast in his box, Yellowstone worked over 1400m on the Viscoride track at Flemington, which was his first serious gallop since the weekend.
“He’s fine they said, he’s right to go but they well check him on Monday like they do all the runners,” Chapple-Hyam said.
“I’ve said all along that he’s fine and if he hadn’t have got cast in the box he wouldn’t have been here today.
“Aidan O’Brien used to train him and he happened to be walking past yesterday and said the horse was better behind that what he had him.”
 
I take issue with John Egan calling anyone a fu#cking idiot....

The vet is doing his job by the sounds of things.
 
He is in a lot strife now for calling the vets “tin pot Hitlers" on national tv today. Per www.racenet.com.au. Whilst it has been a long and drawn out process with the vets for the Yellowstone connections, it is done for a reason. There is alot of money at stake, nearly AUD$6 million. All other connections, jockeys, owners and trainers deserve and have the right to know that the horses their animals are facing against are 100% sound and fit to run. The vets are doing their job at the end of the day.
Instead of stating to the media it has been a long and drawn out process, Egan had the hide to make such comments.

I don't think they will suspend him, most likely a severe reprimand and $1000 fine.


Egan to face inquiry over comment on TV
Clinton Payne
Saturday, 1 November 2008
British jockey John Egan has landed himself in hot water with comments he made to Channel 7 that were aired on national television.
The rider of Yellowstone in next Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup called a Racing Victoria vets “tin pot Hitlers” and stewards summoned him to an inquiry at Flemington today.
“There were some comments made by John Egan regarding the process with Yellowstone being vetted this morning on national television and he has subsequently been charged over those comments, Racing Victoria Chairman of Stewards Terry Bailey said.
“Comments that find there is a charge of his comments were prejudicial to the image racing and that matter now will be referred to the Racing Appeals and Disciplinary Board to be heard by Judge Russell Lewis on Monday.
“It is a serious matter.”
Egan has had a turbulent career with a string off offences both on the racetrack and in his personal life.
The Yellowstone camp have been highly critical of their treatment all week complaining that the horse hadn’t been passed fit before today.
 
I have a low opinion of Mr Egan but I also think there may be more to this "injury" story than they are revealing?
 
The draw:

Yellowstone - 12
Septimus - 10
Honolulu- 24
Alessandro Volta - 11
Mad Rush - 4
Bauer - 13
Profound Beauty - 2
Varevees - 23
 
Back
Top