The only international trainer to put himself through the rigours of a 14-day quarantine in the hope of getting a Melbourne Cup starter has gained the last ticket into the race.
German galloper Ashrun leapfrogged his way into Tuesday's A$7.75 million Cup at Flemington with a thrilling last-to-first victory in the Lexus Hotham Stakes at that same track yesterday.
That made 14 days of quarantine in Sydney before travelling to Melbourne worthwhile for standout horseman Andreas Wohler, who won the 2014 Cup with Protectionist.
"When you get an outcome like this, it really is," said Wohler. "[Yesterday], he didn't have the best run around and still won in the end with topweight, so we're very pleased," he told Racing.com.
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Advertise with NZME.After lumping topweight of 61kg to victory in the Hotham, Ashrun will carry just 53kg on Tuesday after Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter decided against a re-handicap.
Earlier, Racing Victoria vets cleared both Warning and Chapada to be paid-up for Tuesday's Cup.
The Melbourne Cup is set to have just one horse trained full-time in New Zealand in The Chosen One, who will represent Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman.
He was a fighting third in the Caulfield Cup two weeks ago at Mornington and looks stronger now than when he finished well back in 19th in the Melbourne Cup last year.
But there will be plenty of other New Zealand interest in the race, with Sydney Cup winner Etah James owned here and having spent part of her racing career in New Zealand, while Caulfield Cup winner Verry Elleegant is one of the favourites for Tuesday. She not only started her career here but is still part-owned in New Zealand.
Another favourite is Surprise Baby, who was bred here and sold for just $5500.
There has already been success for the New Zealand breeding industry at Group 1 level at Cup week with Kiwi-bred Johnny Get Angry winning the A$2m Victoria Derby yesterday.
A son of the late Cambridge Stud stallion Tavistock, Johnny Get Angry was purchased from the Bradbury Park draft at the Karaka Sales for $50,000 but has turned into one of racing's more remarkable stories.
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Advertise with NZME.Johnny Get Angry is trained by former two-time North Melbourne AFL-winning coach Denis Pagan (1996 and 1999), who also owns the 3-year-old.
Pagan isn't even a professional trainer, holding only a provisional licence, meaning he can only train horses he owns himself.
So he takes home almost the entire A$1.2m stake apart from the jockey's percentage for first-time Group 1 winner Lachlan King, whose father Steven won the Derby twice.
Pagan has been training for only six months and has previously trained just one other winner.
There was New Zealand success in Sydney, too, yesterday as expat jockey Jason Collet won his second huge race in recent weeks by guiding Gytrash to win the A$1m Yes Yes Yes Stakes at Rosehill.
