Cross on Cup path
OUTCLASSED by Europe’s premier stayer Stradivarius in the Ascot Gold Cup, Cross Counter will still be given the chance to win a second Melbourne Cup, trainer Charlie Appleby says.
Beaten 18 lengths when third behind the astonishing Stradivarius, Cross Counter will return to Australia for a third Cup tilt. He ran a luckless eighth behind Vow And Declare last November.
Underscoring Stradivarius’ dominance, last year’s Melbourne
Cup runner-up Prince Of Arran wallowed in the soft conditions to finish sixth, beaten 27 lengths.
Acknowledging Gold Cup winner Stradivarius’s superiority, Appleby said Cross Counter still produced enough to justify another Australian sortie.
“I think since Melbourne (2019) we haven’t ridden him differently, but he has been ridden slightly more positively,” he said yesterday.
“I just thought today, let him go past horses and see if the enthusiasm is still there.
“I was delighted to see him do what he did. He galloped out on (soft) ground he doesn’t really enjoy.
“The long-term target has always been the Melbourne Cup. He ran a very creditable race in it again last year.
“More importantly, what we have seen today is, he is back to where he was in Melbourne. Just ride him chilly, as he sees it out well and has a good turn of foot.
“Hopefully there is a race or two left in him.”
Cross Counter has started only seven times since his 2018
Cup triumph as a three-year-old, winning in Meydan last year over
3200m.
Geelong
Cup winner and dual Melbourne Cup placegetter Prince Of Arran was uncomfortable on the yielding ground.
British trainer Charlie Fellowes intends sending the gelding back to Australia for a spring campaign.