Melbourne Cup fanatics OTI Racing has not given up hope of having five runners in the Melbourne Cup as it anxiously awaits an updated order of entry on Monday.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
Outstripping any potential representation Lloyd Williams is likely to have in this year's great race, retired Test cricketer Simon O'Donnell and partner Terry Henderson could have almost a quarter of the Melbourne Cup field.
Gatewood, Brambles, Lidari and Moonee Valley Cup placegetter Au Revoir are all safely in the field, with OTI desperate to qualify Lord Van Percy via the Lexus Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.
"It would be nice to be able to have five," Henderson said. "I think we're pretty much assured of three with Gatewood, Brambles and Au Revoir. Lidari is on the cusp but should make it in, and then [Lord] Van Percy is in the Lexus. We expect him to run well.
"It is conceivable [to have five], but you don't want to go off crowing too early about these things."
Williams' fascination with the Melbourne Cup has led him to scour the globe to source and secure potential Cup runners. He had six runners in last year's Cup.
Only Cox Plate runner-up Fawkner and 2012 Melbourne Cup hero Green Moon are confirmed to carry his colours this year. Sea Moon will run in the Lexus Stakes and potentially press on to the first Tuesday in November.
It has left OTI holding the whip hand in the numbers game this year as it seeks to snap its Melbourne Cup duck, most famously punctuated by Bauer's near miss in 2008.
"Our guys that race with us ... many of them have the dream of having a runner in the Cup," Henderson said. "There's probably 20 guys amongst the group that have probably never had that experience.
"While we don't have a real standout [this year], they're all really competitive types of horses. You wouldn't go into it saying we're going to run in the first five, but it wouldn't surprise if they all ran in the first half of the field."
OTI's 2014 Cup arsenal is spread across several trainers, with Brambles (fourth) and Lidari (sixth) graduating from the Caulfield Cup for Peter Moody.
John Gosden will produce Gatewood for his first Australian start in 18 months, while Andre Fabre (Lord Van Percy) and Andrew Balding (Au Revoir) are also in charge of OTI stock.
Lord Van Percy will run in the Lexus Stakes, with jockey Kerrin McEvoy trying to repeat Ruscello's heroics for OTI in the same race last year, while Brambles will have his Melbourne Cup tune-up in the Mackinnon Stakes.
"Brambles is going to run in the Mackinnon just to take a little bit of the sting out of him because he over-raced in the Caulfield Cup," Henderson said. "He'll go on to the Cup from there if everything goes well.
"And we expect [Lord Van Percy] to run well in the Lexus as he's a strong little stayer.
"[Au Revoir] badly needed that run [in the Moonee Valley Cup on Saturday] as he almost looked too pretty. He's that sort of horse and being a four-year-old stallion he looks after himself well. We put the blinkers on, but we'll pull the blinkers off [for the Cup] and [Saturday's] run will bring him along a lot."
Meanwhile, Moonee Valley Cup winner Prince Of Penzance is likely to be penalised 2 kilograms for the Melbourne Cup when Racing Victoria's chief handicapper Greg Carpenter announces a penalty on Monday.
But the Darren Weir-trained five-year-old will still be a long way down the order of entry and very unlikely to secure a Cup berth.
Prince Of Penzance won a messy Moonee Valley Cup, with his rider, Michelle Payne, copping a 20-meeting suspension for careless riding that led to Chad Schofield's fall on the home turn.
Hugh Bowman has been confirmed as the rider of Junoob in the Melbourne Cup after Blake Shinn was outed for careless riding at Rosehill on Saturday.
Shinn's Melbourne Cup dream was hanging by a thread after escaping a ban for a similar charge at Randwick three days earlier, but again fell foul of the stewards.
