Ladies Man. Photo / Race Images
Kiwi trainer Allan Sharrock’s Melbourne Cup gamble with Ladies Man has already paid off, and what happens in the A$8 million race next Tuesday is now almost a bonus.
Sharrock rolled the dice by taking Ladies Man to Melbourne last week, even when he sat well outside the 24 horses guaranteed to start in the Cup at Flemington.
But after third acceptances saw the usual withdrawals, Ladies Man is 25th in the rankings, and with others almost certain to drop out of Cup contention this week, he is as good as in the race.
“I’m being told we’re more or less in, so that’s how we’re planning now,” says Sharrock.
“It takes the pressure off a bit, about what he needs to do in his race this Saturday but he will still go around anyway.
“A run will help take the sting out of him and get him ready for next week. I’m thrilled for the owners. They’re the ones who agreed to send him over and they’ll now have a Cup horse.”
Sharrock still plans to start Ladies Man in the Archer Stakes on Saturday, with the winner guaranteed a spot in the Cup three days later.
“I always thought the Cup acceptances might fall away, which is one reason we put him on the plane, but we had this race as a back-up if we needed to try and win it to get into the race.
“Now he can start and be ridden like a Cup horse, allowed to settle and run home hard, and it’ll take the freshness out of
his legs. But it’s a good feeling knowing we don’t have to go to Saturday having to win.”
Ladies Man was an impressive last-start winner of the Group 1 Livamol at Hastings, yet has to carry only 50kg in the Melbourne Cup.
Lightweight Victorian jockey Dean Yendall will ride him on Saturday and in the Cup.
Ladies Man being in the Cup could also be a bonus for the New Zealand TAB, because as huge as the Melbourne Cup is, a Kiwi storyline always helps sell the Cup to locals.
Ladies Man has tightened into a $51 chance with major Australian bookies but looks unlikely to come down more, as most of the major players at the head of the Cup market are now confirmed starters.
For all the lead-up form of races such as the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate, which defending champion Gold Trip started in last Saturday, one of the most talked about performances in pre-Cup analysis will be the trackwork of favourite Vauban at Flemington yesterday.
Vauban has been one of the favourites for the Cup since a stunning Royal Ascot win in June when he thrashed stablemate Absurde by seven lengths.
Absurde franked that form by winning one of Europe’s best Melbourne Cup pointers, The Ebor at York, at his next start and both are in Melbourne for legendary Irish trainer Willie Mullins.
The locals got their first look at them working together in public gallops at Flemington yesterday, and true to their Ascot form, Vauban thrashed Absurde again at the end of 1600m, Vauban covering his final 400m in a quick 23.49 seconds.
While different horses are asked to achieve different things in trackwork, the work suggested Vauban is a fit, sound and happy horse a week out from the Cup and eased any acclimatisation fears.
Remarkably, Vauban is a former hurdler, having had eight starts over the jumps for three wins, which seems so foreign from how punters in this part of the world view jumpers and what type of horse is needed to win the Melbourne Cup.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.