Morrison and Balding relishing quest to become first Englishmen to conquer the Cup
And the VRC would have to look no further than past visitors Andrew Balding and Hughie Morrison if any further promotion of the race was required.
“Where else would you want to be in November?” said Balding as he confirmed, yesterday, that Duretto and Count Octave were his two likely Cups runners while Brorocco was a ‘possibility’ for the Caulfield and Mackinnon Stakes’.
“I’m well aware of that,” Morrison said in reference to the English trainer’s maiden status, “and I think I could die a happy man if I were to be the first.”
Morrison plans to return with Marmelo who finished ninth, when equal favorite, in last year’s Melbourne Cup after Australians Aziz Kheir, Phil Mehrten and John O’Neill bought into the horse.
The five-year-old entire has returned in great form in 2018 with recent wins at York and Longchamp and is likely to travel after contesting the Prix Kergorlay at Deaville which he won last year. “The difference this year is that I would plan to go straight into the Melbourne Cup without a lead-up run in Australia,” he said.
Marmelo finished sixth in last year’s Caulfield Cup before heading to Flemington. On both occasions he was ridden by Hugh Bowman who, coincidentally, had lived in East Ilsley – the village where Morrison trains – when he rode in England, principally for nearby trainer Mick Channon.
Morrison said Marmelo was “clean winded” and suited going into the Melbourne Cup fresh. “Interestingly he was scoped after last year’s (Melbourne) Cup and the vet said he had the biggest windpipe he’d seen,” he said.
The trainer said his first Australian experience, either as trainer or tourist, was memorable. “We had a fantastic time and we were very well looked after. The whole build up to the race has to be experienced first hand to be believed and obviously it’s a great time of the year to be going,” Morrison said.
“The only dampener was the five speeding fines which have since arrived in the mail and I swear I was only a couple of k’s over the limit,” he said.
This not an unfamiliar lament with visiting trainers as Mark Weld, son of Dermot, explained after Princess Highway won the 2012 Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot. The filly, by Street Cry, was named (albeit misspelled) after the Melbourne highway on which Weld had incurred numerous speeding fines while en route to the Werribee quarantine and training centre.
I’m not sure of Balding’s Civic Compliance status but his appetite was certainly whet for the Melbourne spring with the success of Side Glance in the 2013 Mackinnon Stakes. Less well remembered is that Side Glance contested successive Cox Plates and was just a half length from the winner Adelaide when fourth in 2014.
“The two Cups horses fit the right profile and obviously to win the Melbourne Cup would be something very special,” said the Kingsclere trainer whose stables recently hosted a leg of the Cup tour.
Duretto is a six-year-old who conceded weight to Marmelo when beaten one length into third place in the Grand Cup at York in June while Count Octave was placed in the Queen Alexandra Stakes at Royal Ascot at his most recent run. He is likely to run at the York festival in a bid to get his rating up according to the trainer who is yet to have a Melbourne Cup runner.