TAKE IT AS RED
Trainer leaves tactics to Kerrin
TRAINER Andreas Wohler will let champion jockey Kerrin McEvoy weave his magic on highly credentialed European stayer Red Cardinal in today’s Melbourne Cup.
The 37-year-old hoop is chasing back-to-back Melbourne Cup wins after guiding Almandin to victory last year, but will have his work cut out for him on Red Cardinal, drawing barrier 23 in the $6 million race.
But despite the horror draw Wohler was confident his horse was going well enough to be a contender.
“He is fine, he is fresh, well. So far so good,” the German trainer said.
“Hopefully he runs well.” Wohler planned to catch up with McEvoy for a coffee after yesterday’s Melbourne Cup parade, giving them the chance to discuss tactics before the race.
The scratching of Who Shot Thebarman means Red Cardinal will jump from barrier 23 rather than the original barrier 24.
But McEvoy will have to be at his best — like he was with Brew in 2000 when he came from the widest barrier 22 — to win the race.
“We have got one more to the inside at least. It helps maybe a bit,” Wohler told Sky Racing.
“I’ve heard Kerrin has done it already once before. Hopefully he can do it again.”
And McEvoy will have to contend with a race that lightweight star Dean Yendall likens to 24 lunatics let loose in peak-hour traffic.
Yendall is well aware 3200m of all-out concentration is the only way to win.
Enjoying the best form of his career, Yendall, who won the Group 1 Myer Classic on Shoals last Saturday, will steer $18 TAB chance and second bottom weight Amelie’s Star around Flemington in pursuit of his first Melbourne Cup.
Yendall is riding in his third Cup and said his race plans were locked in stone — to ride his mare “much quieter” than in the Caulfield Cup when she struggled to 11th ridden by Craig Williams.
Five jockeys — Michael Dee, Beau Mertens, Corey Parish, Kathy O’Hara and Frenchman Olivier Peslier — will be riding in the race for the first time.
Parish, who won the Caulfield Cup on Boom Time, said he would “usually be riding in Echuca” on Cup Day and hoped he could hold his own.
“I’ve never ridden at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day and I’ve never even been along to watch,” he said.
“So it’ll be a huge thrill regardless of what happens.”