As the saying goes, I love it when a plan comes together, and that was very much the feeling when Sea King won the Bendigo Cup on Wednesday morning!
It was very exciting to see, and I suppose there’s the added excitement that he’s now booked his slot for the Melbourne Cup next Tuesday. We felt he’d really thrived in quarantine, but you never really know how well they are until they hit the track, so we were thrilled with how dominant he was in the end at Bendigo.
It’s also a massive milestone for us as a team in winning our first Group race. It’s probably taken a little longer than we’d have liked, but to have achieved it in such an important race as we plot our way to the (Melbourne) Cup is huge. Any international winner is a big result too, especially in Australia at the moment as it’s becoming harder and harder to get horses running down here.
I have to give a lot of credit to Terry (Henderson) and the team from OTI Racing (Sea King’s owners). They took the plunge to buy him with this dream in mind and also to give us the confidence to send him down here alongside Docklands. Hopefully we can pull it off for them!
Full steam ahead to the Melbourne Cup, with Hollie Doyle set for the ride
Naturally all attentions now turn to the Melbourne Cup, and we’re really eager to see how Sea King will fare in the big one next Tuesday.
We now can’t wait to run him in the Cup, should we pass the vets’ scans. Obviously, the Ebor form looks strong, finishing ahead of Geelong Cup winner Onesmoothoperator, and I think the two-mile trip should be fine. You’d have to think he’ll be competitive off the back of today’s win, so it’ll just be a case of whether he’s classy enough to go and win it.
Declan Bates is unfortunately not able to do the weight in the Cup, so we’re lining Hollie Doyle up to take the ride, which would be a great booking. Based on his run today, if he can repeat that under Hollie, you’d like to think we’re going there with a live chance.
Crucial vets’ scans the next hurdle enroute to Flemington
Sea King will now undergo new CT scans on Thursday which will determine whether we’re allowed to run on Tuesday. He’s passed them before, and he’s not a younger horse like Jan Brueghel, who failed their tests on Tuesday, so fingers crossed he’ll pass them, and we’ll be rocking and rolling on to the Cup.
Docklands set for Melbourne Cup Carnival
Docklands seems to have come out of the Cox Plate really well. He’s back cantering and we think he’s probably come on a bit for the run. It was obviously quite a long time between the Juddmonte and Saturday’s race, so we hope he’ll strip a bit fitter for his next start.
We’re not exactly sure what that’ll be yet, but it’ll either be the Champions Mile or Champions Stakes. His Cox Plate conqueror Via Sistina looks to be set for the Champions Stakes, so that’ll likely scare plenty of the opposition into the Mile race. I wouldn’t be scared of taking her on again, and at the minute that’s the way I’d be heading at this stage. No decision has been made yet, however, and we’ll see how he comes out of his CT scans on Thursday.
Speak soon,
Harry