Godolphin out to break Melbourne duck

DUBAI ruler Sheikh Mohammed’s g l o b a l Godol p h i n empire will have five runners in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup as it bids to end its near 20-year heartbreak in Australia’s greatest horse race.

The Godolphin stable has been coming to the Flemington racecourse since 1998, and the closest it has come to victory are three runner-up placings.

Central Park was second in 1999 followed by Give The Slip in 2001 and Crime Scene eight years later.

Godolphin is hoping i t s sheer weight of numbers will finally crack a win in the race that is said to “stop a nation”.

The 156th edition of the Mel- bourne Cup over 3,200 metres (two miles) has become a global event and its bumper A$6.2 million (US$4.7 million) prizemoney lures the big names of thoroughbred racing, from Japan to the Gulf and Britain.

British-based Oceanographer joined race favourite Hartnell, Qewy, Secret Number and Beautiful Romance as Godolphin’s runners in the Cup with a slashing last-tofirst qualifying win in the Lexus Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.

“We don’t usually do this [backing-up in four days], but he is a fit and we think he will run the trip,” Oceanographer’s trainer Charlie Appleby said.

The Godolphin team is optimistic of its chances of finally breaking its duck in the handicap two-miler.

“It’s an extraordinary achievement and it’s superb from all three trainers to have horses qualify for the race,” said the head of the stable’s Australian operations Henry Plumptre.

“I’d say three or four of them are really serious chances.”

‘Developed into a man’

Newmarket trainer Michael Bell has returned with topweight Big Orange, who is out to improve on his fifth placing in last year’s race.

“He ran a great race last year and he was really only a boy and he’s developed into a man now, his form’s improved and he’s got a significantly better draw,” he said.

“The fact he has got top weight is not so relevant given his physique, and we just pray for t he track to r un like it did on Saturday a nd he’l l r un a big race.”

Irishman Aidan O’Brien is hoping to replicate the trailblazing successes of compatriot trainer Dermot Weld with Vintage Crop (1993) and Media Puzzle (2002) with his runner Bondi Beach.

Another Irish trainer Willie Mullins, whose galloper Max Dynamite was beaten by the Michelle Payne-ridden Prince of Penzance in last year’s Cup, is back with Wicklow Brave, to be ridden by Frankie Dettori.

Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup, does not have a ride in this year’s race.

Japan, which won with Delta Blues in 2006, will be represented by nine-year-old gelding Curren Mirotic, trained by Osamu Hirata.

The Melbourne Cup has been won six times by internationally trained horses: 2014 (Protectionist, Germany), 2011 (Dunaden, France), 2010 (Americain, France), 2006 (Delta Blues, Japan), 2002 (Media Puzzle, Ireland), and 1993 (Vintage Crop, Ireland).