Trainer hopes his Prince can chase history

CHARLIE Fellowes knows the odds are stacked against him.

Desperate to snare a golden ticket into the Melbourne Cup at Flemington tomorrow, the young Englishman hopes A Prince Of Arran can overcome a swarm of Australian-trained stayers to win the Lexus Stakes.

If so, the 32-year-old would be armed with the chance to become the first English trainer to win Australia’s most famous race after a string of near-misses for Ed Dunlop and Luca Cumani.

Fellowes, who spent a year working with Lee Freedman at Mornington a decade ago, believes A Prince Of Arran is ready to build on his Herbert Power Stakes third to Cup favourite Yucatan.

“I am confident that I have him going in the best form he could possibly be in,” he said.

“We just need the cards to fall right. We don’t want what happened last time to happen again.

“That would make it more difficult. But if he gets a clear run round, I don’t see why he can’t run a big race.”

Fellowes has no doubt A Prince Of Arran should have finished closer to Yucatan — and ahead of Brimham Rocks — at Caulfield.

“Yucatan was very impressive, but it didn’t work out for us,” he said.

“We got trapped on the rail, we then had to swing wide, we then got stopped for a run in the straight.

“I am not for a moment saying we would have beaten Yucatan, that would be a ridiculous statement.

“But the jockey (James McDonald) on the winner would not have been easing up on the line. I know that for free.

“We weren’t going to get in front of him.

“If we had beaten Brimham Rocks and finished second, we would have been 27th rather than 28th in the Cup order of entry.”

Fellowes rates Brimham Rocks and Lindsay Park’s Jaameh as the two horses to beat in the Lexus.

“Jaameh’s form in England is nothing compared to ours, but he has come here and improved. It’s different out here,” he said.

If A Prince Of Arran fails in the Lexus, he will head to next week’s Queen Elizabeth Stakes.