WILLOUGHBY FINDS DASH AGAIN

MICHAEL Walker is adamant Dashing Willoughby can erase the ignominy of a 27-length Caulfield Cup last by contending in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.

Walker said the diminutive stayer “felt like a different horse today” after trackwork at Werribee.

“There’s no money on the training track but, for me, I needed to feel the improvement going into the Melbourne Cup, which I did feel,” he said.

“There were a few things I wasn’t happy with going into the Caulfield Cup, he just didn’t feel right in his back, like muscular.

“I know that when I get off the plane, after sitting on a plane for so long I feel the same.

“He’s over that now and the team and the vets here have done a tremendous job with him, you’ll see a different horse on Tuesday.”

Dashing Willoughby’s form leading into the Caulfield Cup was decent, following two black type wins with a fourth in the Group 2 Lonsdale Cup at York on August 21.

But he was the first horse beaten at Caulfield, where Walker conceded he erred tactically.

“I got my game plan wrong for the Caulfield Cup,” he said.

“I think everybody thought the speed was going to come from out wide with Prince Of Arran and Anthony Van Dyck, and they didn’t come and it left me there (in the lead).”

“For me, he’s brighter than what he felt before the Caulfield Cup but, action-wise, he feels like a different horse.

“After the Caulfield Cup the team said the horse actually pulled up all right, I’m glad I looked after him, I didn’t knock him around in the race because I knew something wasn’t right.”

“I couldn’t be happier with his work today, he’s not a horse that works good by himself, he prefers company.

“I asked him to click up the last 400m, I just wanted to feel without bottoming him, he still needed to have a blow, it’s a twomile race, so I gave him enough of a sound workout without flattening him.

“You’re going to see a different horse ... I’m going to go into Tuesday with my chest pumped out, shoulders back and confident you will see a different horse.”