Chosen One targets Caulfield Cup
He will carry just 52kgs and will also carry a new jockey
One New Zealand dream of Cups glory could be ending in Melbourne as another takes a huge leap closer to becoming reality. Because while The Chosen One’s victory in the A$400,000 Herbert Power at Caulfield on Saturday suggests he is now a realistic chance in the $A5 million Caulfield Cup this weekend, fellow Kiwi galloper Glory Days’ spring campaign has reached an impasse.
The Chosen One is rated an $11 chance for the Cup after coming from well back to win on Saturday, the addition of blinkers and dropping back to handicap conditions after two unplaced weight-for-age efforts seeing him return to his best form.
His Herbert Power victory over Prince Of Arran not only guarantees him a Caulfield Cup start but he can’t be re-handicapped so will carry just 52kgs.
He will also carry a new jockey, with Stephen Baster engaged by trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman because Saturday’s winning jockey Damian Lane is already committed to high-class Japanese galloper Mer de Glace.
The stable has a wonderful Caulfield Cup record, having won it four years ago with Mongolian Khan and while The Chosen One is still very new to the open grade he is a fit horse who can handle Caulfield.
So with his light weight he ticks a lot of the right boxes to be a chance this Saturday. He will be joined in the Cup by last season’s Vodafone Derby winner Crown Prosecutor, who sits 22nd on the order of entry but there should be the four withdrawals necessary to see him make the final field of 18.
But while the two Cambridge fouryear-olds will take on the Aussies and Europeans in the first leg of the legendary Cup double, Auckland Cup winner Glory Days is no longer certain to head to the Melbourne Cup.
She was never really being aimed at the Caulfield Cup but any ambitions there disappeared when she performed well below her best in the Herbert Power.
Glory Days was ridden handier than usual but was struggling to make ground at the 600m mark and faded to ninth. While she isn’t the first horse to find Caulfield not to her liking she still left trainer Bill Thurlow scratching his head and cancelling his air tickets.
“I was going to fly back home for a week today but I changed my plans because I need to stay here and work out where she is at,” said Thurlow yesterday.
“That definitely wasn’t what we wanted to see from her and obviously the Caulfield Cup is now not an option but I am not sure what to do about the Melbourne Cup now either.
“It is still the aim and has been the main one all along but we are not going to just go there for the sake of it.”
That leaves Thurlow in a tricky situation as he would ideally like to give Glory Days another start before the Cup, which is three weeks tomorrow, but believes she performs best with her races spaced.
“She is 31st in the order of entry and we will know where we stand more after the next acceptances (tomorrow).
“If, after those, we knew she was almost certain to make the Melbourne Cup field then maybe she could go there without another start.
“But I would also like a race to get a line on her so either the Moonee Valley Cup or the Geelong Cup are possible.
“But I have some thinking to do now.”