Cup winner may well be back
Cross Counter is likely to chase successive Melbourne Cup victories.
Elated at delivering the Cup for the first time to Godolphin patron Sheikh Mohammed, trainer Charlie Appleby said yesterday that lightly-raced Cross Counter had the perfect profile to continue racing internationally.
“He’s a young horse and it was only the eighth run of his career there yesterday,” Appleby said.
“Like any of our horses that run we’ll just let the dust settle and make a plan for him in the new year of where we’re gonna be, but he’s a gelded son of Teofilo so racing’s going to be his game.
“As he’s proven already, the international stage is for him. So I’m hopeful we will be back next year.
“They’ll all (Godolphin horses) fly out on Sunday and he’ll winter in Dubai. I’d strongly imagine he’ll be back here next year.”
In the 157-year history of the Cup only four horses — Archer, Rain Lover, Think Big and Makybe Diva (three times) — have won Australian racing’s greatest prize in successive years.
Appleby admitted Joseph O’Brien’s feat to win the 2017 Cup with sparingly raced, northern hemisphere three-year-old Rekindling had caught his eye.
“This is our third trip down and we’ve learned each year a little more about we needed to bring down,” Appleby said.
“But no doubt about it, Joseph and his team did an amazing job last year and it certainly changed our views on what we might need to bring down.
“This horse has been on the radar for four months, but three months solidly.
“We had conversations with ( jockey) Kerrin (McEvoy) and there’s no better man for advice on what we need to win a Melbourne Cup.
“This is a horse that had a great profile, bar the setback we had two weeks ago. The last 10 days, he’s ticked every box and the rest is history, as they say.”