MELBOURNE - Melbourne's top weight-for-age galloper El Segundo has prompted yet another review of Cox Plate betting following a brilliant gallop at Moonee Valley yesterday.
Trainer Colin Little and jockey Darren Gauci declared the horse back on track for next Saturday's race after his 1600m spin which erased all of
the negatives that flowed from his Yalumba Stakes failure a week ago.
El Segundo showed his renowned liking for the Valley as he dashed up the straight in 23.74 seconds, easily the best time of the morning.
"That was really solid work," Gauci said. "I reckon we've got him pretty well right. He'll go to the Cox Plate a better horse."
Little revealed that a slight mishap in El Segundo's final gallop before the Yalumba may have been behind his disappointing third to Casual Pass.
He said the horse had slipped on the home turn as he was winding up and Gauci had to abandon plans to give the horse the searching test he had intended.
"Darren took hold of him and as a result he didn't do quite enough work," Little said.
Gauci said he had instinctively looked after El Segundo after he slipped on a wet patch on the track and had been easy on him over the final stages of the workout.
No such problems emerged at Moonee Valley as El Segundo flew around the home turn and dashed up the straight.
His final 400m was a second faster than that of Cox Plate second favourite Racing To Win and almost a second better than Pompeii Ruler.
Trainer Mick Price said Pompeii Ruler had pleased him and at this stage seems to be shaping as a better Cox Plate prospect than last week's Toorak Handicap winner Red Dazzler who also worked yesterday.
El Segundo is now the $3.30 favourite with Melbourne bookmaker Michael Eskander for the Cox Plate with Racing To Win at $3.50 and Grey Swallow at $9.
Grey Swallow, an Irish Derby winner formerly trained by Dermot Weld, stepped out in public in Australia for only the third time in a special track gallop at Moonee Valley yesterday.
He handled things as well as could have been expected, sliding around the home turn and leaving his lowly-ranked companion well behind.
After the work, both jockey Steven King and trainer Dale Sutton had nothing but praise for the horse who has not raced for four months.
Grey Swallow is a $9 chance based on a reputation and a form line that have no way of being verified in Australia - and a $6.5 million price tag.
But even though he is now owned by an Australian and trained in Australia he is an Irish stayer - and they are almost always too slow for a race like the Cox Plate.
- AAP
Racing: Cox Plate favourite erases negatives in brilliant work
MELBOURNE - Melbourne's top weight-for-age galloper El Segundo has prompted yet another review of Cox Plate betting following a brilliant gallop at Moonee Valley yesterday.
Trainer Colin Little and jockey Darren Gauci declared the horse back on track for next Saturday's race after his 1600m spin which erased all of
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