Newmarket trainer Ed Dunlop is hopeful that Trip To Paris will recover from a minor leg injury he sustained in the Group 1 $6m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington last Tuesday and be fit to head to Japan for the Japan Cup.
Trip To Paris is recovering from a minor leg injury and should be fit to run in the Japan Cup in Tokyo. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.
The Group 1 US$5.2m Japan Cup (2400m) in run at Tokyo on November 29 and Trip To Paris is among the first group of international horses invited to run.
Trip To Paris arrived in Australian with a great staying reputation and ran right up to that with an eye catching second to Mongolian Khan in the Group 1 $3m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 17.
The English stayer was then sent out as one of the top chances in the Melbourne Cup and after getting mixed up in the scrimmage in the straight, finished off the race to finish two lengths behind the winner Prince Of Penzance in fourth spot.
The gelding sustained minor injuries to his back legs but Dunlop said the cuts are healing well and he is back trotting and cantering and should be right to head straight to Japan from Australia.
“Trip To Paris was back exercising this morning after being struck into and it could well be that he heads straight from Australia to Japan where he is entered in the Japan Cup on November 29,” Dunlop told the Racing Post.
Trip To Paris had Group 1 winning form in England before he headed to Australia and cemented a Melbourne Cup trip after winning the Group 1 £400,000 Gold Cup (2 mile 4 furlong) at Royal Ascot on June 18.
Dunlop’s other grand stayer Red Cadeaux was also invited to run in the Japan Cup, but it has been announced that the ten year old has been retired after suffering a major injury to his fore leg in the Melbourne Cup.
Red Cadeaux had been a regular visitor to the Melbourne Cup Carnival over the last five years and was runner up on three of those occasions.
Dunlop has reported that Red Cadeaux has come through surgery to repair the damage to his fetlock and he will be retired to the Living Legends Farm just outside of Melbourne.
This year’s Melbourne Cup runner up, the Willie Mullins trained Max Dynamite and fifth placegetter Big Orange also from England, are also on the invitation list for the Japan Cup.
Trip To Paris is the winner of six races from twenty starts and has earned over $1.4 million in prizemoney for his connections.
