Cavalryman will be included in the 2014 Melbourne Cup nominations that will be released this afternoon and trainer Saeed Bin Suroor believes that the stayer is the right horse to deliver Godolphin their maiden win in ‘the race that stops a nation’.
Cavalryman finished 12th behind Green Moon in the 2012 edition of the Melbourne Cup. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Godolphin have famously been unable to win the Melbourne Cup, with the operation finishing second in the race with Central Park (1999), Give The Slip (2001) and Crime Scene (2009), but that has not stopped the world’s largest racing operation from sending horses to Australia for the Group 1 event every year.
Cavalryman finished 12th behind Green Moon in the 2012 edition of the Melbourne Cup, but is arguably racing in the best form of his life as an eight-year-old after he took out the Group 2 Princess Of Wales Stakes (2414m) at Newmarket on July 10 and the Group 2 Goodwood Cup (3218m) on July 31 before finishing fourth in the Group 2 Lonsdale Cup (3299m) at York on August 22.
Bin Suroor told Racing Victoria that you now need more than a dour stayer to win the Melbourne Cup and he is confident that Cavalryman has the turn-of-foot as well as the versatility to take out the feature event of the Spring Racing Carnival.
“We have three times been second in the Melbourne Cup and you need a class horse these days,” Bin Suroor said.
“In the old days you would think about a handicapper and their weight, but now you need a Group 1 or 2 horse who will go and do the job for you there.
“For the Melbourne Cup you need a 2400-metre horse with class and a turn of foot for 1200 metres as they go fast, slow and then fast again in the Cup and that is different to here in the UK.
“Cavalryman has the class and has won on all types of ground and we know the track at Flemington suits him.”
Bin Suroor will also include Willing Foe in the 2014 Melbourne Cup nominations and he is set to join Cavalryman in the plane to Melbourne.
Willing Foe stamped himself as a stayer to watch with a dominant six lengths victory in the Listed Aston Park Stakes (2670m) at Newbury on May 18 last year and he returned to the races with a tight second behind Seismos in the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes (2670m) at Newbury on August 16.
Cavalryman is currently available at 2014 Melbourne Cup odds of $34 in the betting market with Ladbrokes Australia, while Willing Foe is priced at a quote of $41.
