Vengeur Masque eyes 2018
little bit with him,” McGill said. “His second prep, we won a race with him, but he just wasn’t going as good as what we knew he could, so we tipped him out for six months.
“We brought him back and he’s just gone from strength to strength.”
So with Gold Fields flying on the track, McGill is keen to strike while the iron is hot.
“I thought if he could run first three yesterday it would be worthwhile going there (to Wodonga),” he said. “Obviously the plan was to run Thursday and it would have mapped out better time-wise, but we’re only talking two days.
“The next one was always going to be either the Donald Cup or the Wodonga Cup, but I think he’s racing well enough that he deserves a crack at the stronger one.” IT was a case of differing fortunes for two Geelong Cup winners at Flemington on Saturday.
This year’s winner Vengeur Masque stamped himself as a Melbourne Cup horse in 2018 with victory in the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes, while last year’s winner Qewy was retired after finishing well behind the Mike Moroney galloper.
Vengeur Masque, who has been the 25th horse in the order of entry for the past two Melbourne Cups, put in another tough performance on Saturday.
“The disappointment for us is that we didn’t make the Melbourne Cup,” Moroney said. “I really felt it was the first of probably the next two years that he was going to be a Melbourne Cup chance.
“I felt he would have really run well but we just missed out. “He’s just got stronger this year and he’ll get better.
“I think next year he’s going to be better again.”
By being a Melbourne Cup acceptor who was balloted out, Vengeur Masque earned a $100,000 bonus for his connections on top of the $180,000 first prize. Jockey Patrick Moloney said Vengeur Masque kept fighting “like a caged tiger” in the straight.
Sent out as a $3.20 favourite, Qewy finished sixth, with his performance enough for trainer Charlie Appleby to call time on the tough stayer’s career. “He’s done a great job and deserves a healthy retirement,” Appleby said.
“He’s had a long and distinguished career and has always given his best.
“It’s been a pleasure to train him, he has the admiration of the whole team, he’s been a great horse for his highness Sheikh Mohammed and Godolphin.”
Qewy always performed at his best in Australia, winning the Geelong and Sandown cups and running into fourth in the Melbourne Cup last year.