Europe’s carnival challenge flounders with a maximum of 16 set to travel next month
Prince of Arran will be back for a third time but Ebor winner Fujaira Prince is staying at home
The smallest European challenge for more than a decade could contest this year’s Melbourne Spring Carnival after it emerged yesterday that a maximum of 16 places are available on the sole flight set to ship contenders south next month.
It had previously been reported that a 32-berth jet was set to leave Heathrow following the English St Leger (Gr 1, 1m 6.5f) and its Irish equivalent on the weekend of September 12 and 13, but only half that number are now in line to travel.
The planeload of one-way travellers who arrived in Melbourne last week is believed to have been made up of stallions and horses who are not yet qualified for either the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) on October 17 or the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) on November 3.
“There will be just one shipment of horses this year,” Adrian Beaumont of the International Racing Bureau told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday.
“They will be going into quarantine in Newmarket on September 16 and there will be a maximum of 16 horses heading out, including one-way trippers, for the Cox Plate and the two big cups, the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup.”
Although the names of the horses travelling are not yet known, dual Cup placegetter Prince Of Arran (Scirocco) and Dashing Willoughby (Nathaniel), who Sir Owen Glenn last month purchased a majority share in, are both slated to travel.
The identity of the other 12 horses set to head south next month will become apparent tomorrow with European nominations for the carnival closing tonight.
There had been fears that the current Covid-19 regulations in place in Victoria would prevent stable staff from making the trip but with cross-border exemptions now granted to those flying into Sydney, both Andrew Balding, trainer of Dashing Willoughby and Prince Of Arran’s trainer Charlie Fellowes told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday that members of their respective backroom teams were happy to head south.
Dashing Willoughby limbered up for his spring carnival campaign with a fourth in Friday’s Lonsdale Cup (Gr 2, 2m½f) at York and Balding said: “The plan is to run in the Caulfield Cup and then the Melbourne Cup.
“He has come out of the York race great and the intention is for him to fly out after St Leger weekend.
“I have a very experienced travelling team who are going with him and they are very happy to do the quarantine themselves.”
Fellowes also reported his staff have no qualms, even though they will be forced to spend two weeks in quarantine in Sydney before heading to Melbourne.
“I am not forcing anyone to go. If everybody had said no then I wouldn’t have sent him. One lad put up his hand and has said he is happy and comfortable to go and quarantine in Sydney and he knows the horse well.”
Prince Of Arran will be aimed at the Flemington showpiece for the third successive year having finished third and second in the last two Melbourne Cups and Fellowes is contemplating taking the same route as Balding.
The Herbert Power Stakes (G2 , 2400m) at Caulfield has been the now seven-year-old’s starting point for each of previous carnival campaigns but with the Europeans not expected to leave Werribee’s quarantine facility in time for the Group 2 contest, which this year takes place on October 10, Fellowes has been forced into taking a different approach this time round.
“The plan is to run him at Kempton in the September Stakes, that will be his one prep run in the UK and then he will run in either the Caulfield Cup or the Geelong Cup, before running in the Melbourne Cup.
“He seems great. He will probably want the run at Kempton, which isn’t ideal when you are taking on Enable, but he has had a break since his run in the Ascot Gold Cup, he’s had a month in the paddock and I will probably give him a gallop tomorrow.”
One possible Cup contender who seems unlikely to be bidding for a place on next month’s flight is Fujaira Prince (Pivotal).
The Roger Varian-trained six-year-old was given quotes of 20-1 for Flemington glory by the northern hemisphere bookmakers and impressed Racing Victoria’s chief handicapper Greg Carpenter when taking out Saturday’s Ebor (1m 6f) at York.
The last four winners of Europe’s richest handicap have all subsequently gone on to contest the Melbourne Cup but that sequence looks like coming to a halt with Varian instead eyeing options closer to home for the lightly-raced gelding.
“I wouldn’t think he will be going for the Melbourne Cup as he won’t like the ground and we’ll be considering races such as the Irish St Leger and the Long Distance Cup on Champions Day at Ascot,” Varian said yesterday.