Dunaden trainer’s flying visit

MIKEL Delzangles’s fleeting visit to Melbourne to inspect Dunaden occupied about as much time as it took for the French trainer to travel from Chantilly to Werribee, but it was worth it.

Delzangles arrived in Australia just after 2am on Sunday and flew out yesterday afternoon, allowing him to oversee Melbourne Cup winner Dunaden’s work twice leading in to Saturday’s Caulfield Cup.

Despite the fog of jet lag and the abbreviated schedule, Delzangles had no regrets about the trip after Dunaden’s sparkling work.

‘‘It’s a long way to come for a track gallop, but this is my job,’’ he said.

D e l z a n g l e s watched Dunaden gallop over 1600m, running his final 1200m in 1min 16.5sec, including a brilliant final 600m sectional of 35.82sec ( last 400m in 23.9sec).

It prompted Delzangles to declare Dunaden was a better horse now than when he won last year’s Melbourne Cup.

‘‘He is definitely a better horse – but I’m not sure if he is a 4kg better horse,’’ Delzangles said, referring to the Melbourne Cup weights.

‘‘But he is a stronger horse now and the horse looks great.’’

Dunaden is primed for the $ 2.5 million Caulfield Cup and victory would almost certainly earn a penalty for the Melbourne Cup. Therein lies a problem for Delzangles.

Dunaden has been given 58kg for the $6 million Melbourne Cup, 3.5kg more than last year.

Race jockey Craig Williams was at Werribee to ride Dunaden and said the French stayer was ‘‘sharper’’ than 12 months ago.

‘‘He’s still got upside and improvement in him,’’ he said. ‘‘I think he is a contender for the Caulfield Cup.’’

Delzangles said Dunaden was a week behind where he would have liked because of a hoof abscess he suffered in quarantine in Newmarket.

‘‘He missed one week of work. I wouldn’t say he’s 100 per cent fit, but he’s not far away,’’ he said.