So you think you can beat Bart Cummings?
For a country that measures its history in decades as opposed to centuries, the 150th edition of one of their iconic sporting events was always going to be a landmark event.
The England cricket team’s arrival in Perth may have focused some attention on the upcoming Ashes series but, as befits a contest that still lives up to its billing as “the race that stops a nation”, the Melbourne Cup will take centre stage before a sell-out crowd at Flemington.
The days when this was a parochial affair have given way to a truly international contest and something of a quandary for the hosts; balancing the wish for a cosmopolitan field with the burning desire not to see this national treasure marked “for export”.
Americain, the winner of the Geelong Cup two weeks ago, is trained by Frenchman Alain de Royer-Dupre whose quiet, scholarly demeanour may seem out of place with the sometimes brash fervour of Flemington on the first Tuesday in November but neither horse, trainer or jockey – the well-travelled Gerald Mosse - should be easily dismissed.
The early forays by Godolphin were pushed aside without much trouble. But Sheikh Mohammed sees defeat only as a challenge to be met and three seconds in the race - Central Park (1999), Give The Slip (2001) and Crime Scene (2009) – have merely served to increase his appetite for success.
Godolphin’s two runners - Holberg and Campanologist – are reckoned to be among the best-suited runners they have brought to Australia. Frankie Dettori, who has started a round-the-world trip in just seven days that will take him from Britain to Melbourne and then on to Churchill Downs in Kentucky for the Breeders’ Cup next Friday and Saturday, takes the ride on Holberg, while Campanologist be ridden by Kerrin McEvoy.
A total of 11 overseas runners makes the prospect of an away win a possibility but the man standing implacably between them and the coveted trophy is Bart Cummings with his horse So You Think. Unlike many other Australian trainers, who have been lured to bring runners to major overseas events such as Royal Ascot, Cummings stays at home and would not be too worried if the rest of the world did the same.
The 82-year-old could reasonably be said to be no great loss to the diplomatic corps but he has no peer when it come to the Cup having won the race 12 times. The next best by any trainer in the race's history is five.
Cummings is normally a familiar figure at Flemington during Cup week but the closest that he has been to the track in recent days is the statue that stands outside the track, which was commissioned after his 11th Cup victory with Rogan Josh in 1999. The trainer has had several health setbacks in recent months and has been supervising So You Think’s final preparations from a hospital bed where he was recovering from a bout of pneumonia.
But Cummings is expected to be on track for the big race, with medical team on hand just in case, although the locals believe that it is So You Think who should come with a health warning for the opposition. In a build-up that is typical for Australian horses but almost baffling to the visitors, So You Think has run at Flemington on consecutive Saturdays winning Group One races on both days.
First he took the Cox Plate and followed up eight days later with his trainer’s 10th victory in the Mackinnon Stakes, both with an almost insouciant ease. So You Think travelled smoothly in each race but they were both over 10 furlongs and this will be the colt’s first attempt at two miles.
His stamina, which has to be taken on trust, will be put under further pressure after 60milimetres of rain has turned the track to somewhere close to soft. However, Reg Fleming, Cummings’ long-time assistant, believes that the horse is no soft touch. "He amazes me this horse, I don't know what he can do," he said after the Mackinnon. "He's won rain, hail or shine it doesn't seem to matter to him.”
If he is half as indomitable as his trainer the rest of the field should start thinking about second place.
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