Fateful choice to Flemington

IAIN Jardine had two sporting options as a youngster growing up on the Scottish Borders — rugby or ponies.

Jardine chose to go “down the horsey route”, never suspecting his decision would one day carry him from point-topoint races near Hetlandhill, Carrutherstown, to Flemington.

The Scot will complete the journey with a highly strung English-bred gelding and an icy South African-born vet- eran jockey. With Glyn Schofield to take the ride on the Ebor Handicap (2787m) winner, Jardine is optimistic history will mark him out as the first Scot to claim Australia’s most celebrated handicap.

“Fingers crossed we can take the Cup back home to Scotland,” he said. “It will be hard, don’t you know but we’ve got every chance. He’s got that speed, he’s tough and he stays well — there are a couple of good things.”

Nakeeta, a $31 chance with the TAB, hasn’t started since clinching a Melbourne Cup berth with a fighting win in the Ebor, Europe’s richest handicap.

From that moment, Jardine immersed himself in the minutiae of carting a horse from one side of the globe to the other — albeit with suitable inspiration.

“I knew a bit about the Melbourne Cup but not as much as I do now,” he said. “I’d watched Vintage Crop (the first interna- tional winner in 1993) and Heartbreak City (a fellow Ebor winner who was beaten in a photo-finish last year by Almandin),” he said.

“I’d also watched the Phar Lap movie a couple of times.”

Jardine is confident that Schofield’s calm will serve as a positive foil to Nakeeta’s fizzing personality.

“Glyn’s very experienced and he was recommended to me by a friend back in Scotland,” Jardine said.