Trainer Gai Waterhouse is confident that 2013 Melbourne Cup betting favourite is primed and ready for the $6 million Group 1 event at Flemington on Saturday.
Trainer Gai Waterhouse is hopeful that Fiorente can give her a maiden victory in the 2013 Melbourne Cup at Flemington tomorrow. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Fiorente has been the favourite in 2013 Melbourne Cup betting markets since he finished a fast-finishing fourth in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m), and, after a brief battle for favoritism with Mount Athos last week, is now the clear punters elect at odds of $7.
The Monsun entire is yet to run a bad race since arriving in Australia just before the 2012 Melbourne Cup; performing well over at the highest level of racing over a number of different distances.
After finishing second in the 2012 Melbourne Cup, Fiorente had just one race start during the 2013 Sydney Autumn Racing Carnival and finished a fast-finishing third behind All Too Hard and Rain Affair in the Group 1 All Aged Stakes (1400m); with his brief autumn campaign one of the three main reasons that leading form guru Dominic Beirne has made the six-year-old his 2013 Melbourne Cup tip.
He started his 2013 Spring Racing Carnival campaign with a fast-finishing sixth in the Group 1 Memsie Stakes (1400m) before winning the Group 2 Dato’ Tan Chin Nam Stakes (1600m) with a strong burst down the outside of the track.
Fiorente had no luck in the Group 1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) but did enough to become the new favourite in Melbourne Cup betting markets and did his prospects no harm when he showed his tactical versatility to finish third in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) after battling for the lead in the early stages of the race.
Waterhouse has put the final touches on Fiorente in the past week and gave the classy imported stayer his final serious hit-out on Saturday morning with Melbourne Cup jockey Damien Oliver on board.
The always positive trainer said that she was delighted with the work and believes that Fiorente is really peaking ahead of the biggest test of his racing career.
“I could not have been happier and most importantly the jockey Damien Oliver could not have been happier,” Waterhouse said.
“He worked over a mile and came home in the last two or three furlongs, just picking up nicely.
“He was pricking his ears back, as is a custom for him, and he was really attacking the line.”
Damien Oliver, who is chasing his third victory in the Melbourne Cup after winning on Doriemus (1995) and Media Puzzle (2002), will be riding Fiorente for the first time in a race on Saturday after he missed the ride in the Cox Plate due to suspension.
The leading jockey has done plenty of work on the son of Monsun and said that he does not think that the Melbourne Cup betting favourite could have had a better preparation for ‘the race that stops a nation’.
“He felt great, it was his final piece of fast work before the Melbourne Cup, and he felt in great order,” Oliver said
“He ran second last year and (Waterhouse) had a full year with the horse now from last year and he’s been trained specifically for this race,” Oliver said.
“He’s had a great preparation.”
Fiorente and Tres Blue, who has drifted in Melbourne Cup betting markets, will give Waterhouse twenty career starters in the Melbourne Cup.
