Charlie’s Cup plan still alive
CHARLIE Fellowes’ Melbourne Cup dream is intact after Geelong Cup winner Prince Of Arran earned a 1kg penalty, all but securing his place in the nation’s most famous race.
The British stayer’s victory at Geelong in near-record time prompted handicapper Greg Carpenter to elevate Prince Of Arran to 54kg in the weights, moving the raider to 23rd in the Cup order of entry.
Carpenter was clearly taken with Fellowes’ iron horse, who has excelled in all five Australian runs over the past two seasons.
“Prince Of Arran and Irish mare True Self were both outstanding in yesterday’s Geelong Cup, drawing clear of the rest of the field in an extremely strong renewal of the race,” Carpenter said.
“The win continues an exceptional run of performances by Prince Of Arran in Australia over the last 12 months, and comes after he ran second to The Chosen One in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes on October 12, when he gave the New Zealand four-year-old 3.5kg in weight.
“He has clearly improved further from that run to win the Geelong Cup so impressively.
“Americain, in 2010, and Dunaden, in 2011, were both penalised 0.5kg for their Geelong Cup wins, before they carried 54.5kg to victory in the Melbourne Cup at their next starts.
“The 1kg penalty takes Prince Of Arran to 54kg and he has every chance of emulating those two French stayers, as well as Dermot Weld’s Media Puzzle in 2002, by completing the Geelong Cup-Melbourne Cup double.”
Prince Of Arran has raced five times in Australia for Geelong Cup and Lexus Stakes wins, a Melbourne Cup third and second and third in the past two runnings of the Herbert Power Stakes.
Caulfield Cup runner-up Vow And Declare still remains out of the Cup’s 24-horse field ahead of Monday’s third declarations, sitting at No.29.
True Self, beaten narrowly yesterday by Prince Of Arran, is at No.39 and will head to either the Mackinnon Stakes, Matriarch Stakes or Queen Elizabeth Stakes if she misses a Cup start.
Haky (46th) will try to win his way into the Cup by winning next week’s Hotham Handicap.
The Cup order could be further shaped by weight adjustments for eligible winners of the Moonee Valley Gold Cup and Bendigo Cup.