Palmer keen to be first Briton

WALL Of Fire might “feel like an Aussie now”, but trainer Hugo Palmer is upbeat the five-year-old can end the run of near misses and give England its first Melbourne Cup triumph.

The Melbourne Cup has had French, Irish and German winners but no Englishtrained horse has won.

Wall Of Fire ($13) and Marmelo ($8.50) will try to break the drought for England today and Palmer admitted it would be a wonderful moment if his horse came out on top.

“It would be thrilling to be the first but I would just love to win a Melbourne Cup,” he said.

Wall Of Fire has had one of the best preparations of the international brigade.

He had an all-important Australian lead-up run in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) on October 14 but also 24 days to get over it.

Palmer said Wall Of Fire had done nothing but thrive Down Under.

“I think he feels like an Aussie now, he has been here long enough,” he said.

“He has really developed and muscled up and a horse like him who has been in work for so long, it’s just about keeping him fresh and I think we’ve done that.”

If there is a query, it is that he was beaten more than six lengths by Cup rival Red Cardinal in the Belmont Gold Cup over 3200m in June.

But Palmer said the race was a “disaster”.

“Virtually never go two miles in America and the American jockeys completely had a brain freeze,” he said.

Palmer said any concerns about a fast Flemington track were also dispelled in the Herbert Power Stakes.

“It was a good three at Caulfield and very fast ground by European standards and he handled it beautifully,” he said.