2013 Melbourne Cup Field: Kavanagh Happy To Have Runner

Super Cool will take his place in the 2013 Melbourne Cup field and trainer Mark Kavanagh admitted that he is happy to have his first runner in the race since Shocking’s luckless run in the 2010.

Super Cool is chasing his first win since his memorable victory in the Australian Cup earlier this year.

Super Cool is chasing his first win since his memorable victory in the Australian Cup earlier this year. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia

Super Cool is considered one of the outsiders in the Melbourne Cup field and is currently available at odds of $51; with the four-year-old failing to recapture the form that saw him finish second in the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) and win the Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m) last season, since resuming with a strong third in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m).

An optimistic Kavanagh said that he was satisfied with barrier thirteen for Super Cool and confirmed that the Melbourne Cup had always been the major 2013 Spring Racing Carnival target for the son of Fastnet Rock.

“At the end of the day you are lucky to get a barrier and lucky to be in the race,” Kavanagh said at the barrier draw.

“We were happy to be in the race with 21 (Shocking in 2009) and we are even happier to be in with 13.

“The horse was set for the Melbourne Cup straight after last year’s Derby and it certainly confirmed it when he won the Australian Cup in the autumn.

“He has been set especially for this race and we will see what happens on Tuesday.”

Fastnet Rock has never sired a Melbourne Cup winner but Super Cool showed his staying credentials when he finished second behind grinding stayer Fiveandahalfstar in the 2012 Victoria Derby,

Kavanagh admits that there is always a question mark when a horse steps up to 3200 metres for the first time but said that the Group 1 winner gives his team every indication that he will run out the distance strongly when he takes his place in the Melbourne Cup field at Flemington on Tuesday.

“It is hard to say, he gives us that indication, but he is by Fastnet Rock,” Kavanagh said.

Kala Dancer threw Subzero and O’Reilly has already thrown Master O’Reilly to win a Caulfield Cup and good sires can do it if they throw to the mares’ genes and hopeful we have gone that way.

“You must be aware of everything within your horse and hopefully you get it right.”

Kavanagh will be having just his fourth runner in a Melbourne Cup, after Hard To Get finished 22nd in 2004 before Shocking gave him his maiden victory in the 2009 edition of ‘the race that stops a nation’ and finished a disappointing 17 a year later.

Shocking had to win the Group 3 Lexus Stakes (2500m) to earn a start in the 2013 Melbourne Cup field and Kavanagh said it has been far easier preparing Super Cool without the pressure of having to qualify for the race.

“It is an absolute thrill to have a horse and it is much easier to train a horse for the Melbourne Cup if you don’t have to qualify and if you can have a trouble free run going in,” Kavanagh said.

“We are hoping that we have everything right on the day.”

Super Cool be the first horse to complete the Australian Cup/Melbourne Cup double since champion mare Makybe Diva in 2005 if he is successful at Flemington on Tuesday.

About The Author

Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.