Skyward gets chance to show his best after flop at Aussie debut
HE was the Melbourne Cup horse who wasn’t a Melbourne Cup horse – not this year at least.
But co-trainer Trent Busuttin feels there could be some redemption at the end of Cup week for his import Skyward.
Skyward was one of the most promising horses in France when NSW breeder John Messara purchased him as a Melbourne Cup prospect.
In his final European run, he finished less than three lengths from Anthony Van Dyck and Stradivarius in the Group 2 Prix Foy at Longchamp on September 13.
However Skyward needed a win in the 2400m Geelong Cup and a penalty to make the Melbourne Cup field.
He was disappointing on his Australian debut, looking a million dollars in the run but failing to find anything and finishing a lacklustre fifth behind Steel Prince at Geelong.
If you take his European form on trust, the $26 being offered by Ladbrokes for the son of Camelot to win Saturday’s Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington may be overs.
But then there is the question mark of the Geelong flop, something Busuttin and cotrainer Natalie Young can’t wrap their heads around.
But if punters want a pointer, it is the fact Skyward is aiming up for a Group 1 race on Saturday rather than tackling the Group 3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes on the same card.
“We are certainly disappointed he didn’t get in the Melbourne Cup. It’s easy to say afterwards but I think the race would have suited him,” Busuttin said, as Skyward, with Glen Boss to ride, drops back to the 2000m of the Mackinnon.
“He would have sat up on that good genuine Melbourne Cup tempo and given a good kick over two miles but what do you do, you can’t say he was unlucky not to be there because he just didn’t perform well enough in the Geelong Cup.
“Honestly we don’t know what happened there, we went there very confident.”
Busuttin insists he is a far better horse than what punters saw at Geelong.