Red Cadeaux will be dropping back to 2000 metres for the 2015 Australian Cup at Flemington on Saturday and Robin Trevor Jones has revealed that he has attempted to keep the veteran gelding as fresh as possible in the week leading up to the race.
Red Cadeaux has the chance to finally record a race win in Australia in the 2015 Australian Cup. Photo by: Taron Clarke
Red Cadeaux has generally produced the best performances of his career over staying trips, highlighted by his win in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase (2400m) and the three second places in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m), but he showed that he was capable of performing well over 2000 metres when he finished second behind Animal Kingdom in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup (2000m) in 2015.
Trevor Jones told Racing Ahead that Red Cadeaux had followed a slightly different trackwork plan to the one that he usually follows ahead of the Melbourne Cup and he is hopeful that it will help the nine-year-old perform at his best in the 2015 Australian Cup this weekend.
“He seems in good shape,” Trevor Jones said.
“He exercised well this morning and there is nothing more that we can do for him.
“We have probably left him fresher than we would if he was running in a Melbourne Cup, but otherwise the galloping has gone very similar and we have done the same sort of work.
“This week we have just backed off him a little bit to try and get him nice and fresh for Saturday.
“We are all happy.
“I am not confident at the mile and a quarter, but I am confident that he will run a good race.”
Red Cadeaux was allocated barrier 14 when the 2015 Australian Cup field was released earlier this week, which continued his unlucky recording of drawing poor barriers for races in Australia.
Trevor Jones believes that jockey Hugh Bowman will likely be forced to settle Red Cadeaux towards the tail of the field, but he is hoping that the early pressure likely to be set by The Cleaner will help the backmarkers get into the race.
“We never seem to be able to get a good barrier at Flemington,” Trevor Jones said.
“We are going to have to leave it to Hughie.
“They will go fast and we are probably going to have to be nearer to the back than we would really want.”
Red Cadeaux is currently available at 2015 Australian Cup odds of $13 with Ladbrokes, while Happy Trails ($4.60) is a clear favourite from Protectionist ($5.50) and Foreteller ($9.50).
