Appleby hoping to emulate Spring Success in the Autumn

Godolphin’s English trainer Charlie Appleby is hoping to emulate his Spring Carnival success when he returns to Australia for the rich 2017 Sydney and Melbourne Autumn Carnivals.

Qewy, above, was one of five winners for trainer Charlie Appleby during the 2016 Melbourne Spring Carnival. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Qewy, above, was one of five winners for trainer Charlie Appleby during the 2016 Melbourne Spring Carnival. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

Appleby has indicated that none of the five horses that travelled to Melbourne for the Spring Carnival would be coming in the Autumn, but he is keen to assemble another suitable team of horses to tackle the Autumn feature races.

“You need the horses to be able to travel and adapt to their surroundings, which they all did,” Appleby told ANZ Thoroughbred News.

“You could travel with the best horse in the world but if they don’t settle in and adapt, your plans won’t materialise, but those old boys took to it so well and they performed very well.”

“We’re in the process of assembling a team for an autumn campaign in Australia.”

“Obviously they’ve got races like the Australian Cup in Melbourne in March, and The BMW and the Sydney Cup in Sydney which we will be taking a close look at.”

“In about a week’s time we’ll have a better idea of the team we want to take, for now we are just mulling a few horses over, but we have some nice ones who we think will be ideal for the racing down there.”

The Group 1 $1.5m Australian Cup (2000m) is run at Flemington on March 11 during the 2017 Melbourne Autumn Carnival while the Group 1 $1.5m The BMW (2400m) at Rosehill on March 25 and the Group 1 $2m Sydney Cup (3200m) at Randwick on April 8 are part of the Sydney Autumn Carnival.

Qewy was one of Appleby’s success stories over the Melbourne Spring Carnival and was able to gain a start in the Group 1 $6m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 1 after leading all of the way to win the Group 3 $300,000 Geelong Cup (2400m) at Geelong on October 19.

After running a bottler of a race to finish fourth to Almandin in the Melbourne Cup, Qewy went on to win the Listed $150,000 Ladbrokes Sandown Cup (3200m) at Sandown on November 12 and Appleby was considering bringing him back for the Sydney Cup.

“Qewy was one we were considering for the Sydney Cup, but I’ve given it some thought over the last 48 hours and we have some other suitable horses for that race and he deserves some time off,” Appleby said.

Appleby was also able to qualify Oceanographer for the Melbourne Cup with a win in the Group 3 $300,000 Lexus Stakes (2500m) at Flemington on October 29 but the five year old didn’t cope too well with the three day back up and finished twelfth in the Melbourne Cup.

Francis Of Assisi was also a dual winner for Appleby with victories in the Group 3 $300,000 Jayco Bendigo Cup (2400m) at Bendigo on October 26 and the Group 3 $300,000 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2600m) at Flemington on November 5.

Appleby was disappointed that Scottish had to be scratched from the Group 1 $2m Emirates Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on November 5 after going amiss, but the Teofilo five year old ran a mighty race before that when second to Jameka in the Group 1 $3m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 15.

“Scottish is a horse who we were really looking forward to running in the Emirates Stakes, which he unfortunately missed, but he’s back in the yard now and he’s sound, which is the most important thing,” Appleby said.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.