Trainer Ed Dunlop believes that 2013 Melbourne Cup runner-up Red Cadeaux still has a couple of big races in him and has ruled out bringing the eight-year-old back to Australia for a fourth tilt at ‘the race that stops nation’.
Red Cadeaux finished second in the 2013 Melbourne Cup and is a chance to contest the race again in 2014. Photo by: Race Horse Photos Australia
Red Cadeaux started the 2013 Melbourne Cup as an extreme outsider in betting markets but produced a typically brave effort to finish within a length of winner Fiorente, despite bring forced wide on a number of occasions during the race.
The son of Cadeaux Genereux has produced strong performances in the Melbourne Cup, Group 1 Hong Kong Vase (2400m), Group 1 Tenno Sho (3218), Group 1 Dubai World Cup (2000m) and the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes (2670m) in the last twelve months; with the veteran stayer still a chance to add to his incredible international racing resume.
Dunlop admitted that he thought before the Melbourne Cup that it may be the final race for Red Cadeaux but told RSN that he now plans take the Group 1 winner back to Asia to defend his Hong Vase title and contest the Group 1 Japan Cup (2413m).
“I very much thought to myself before the race that maybe that would be the end of it all but that hasn’t happened so now we can dream of carrying on,” Dunlop said.
“I think he’s OK but we’ll find out in the next few days.
“He could go to the Japan Cup and then the Hong Kong Vase; those are the plans if all is fine with him.”
Red Cadeaux has now finished second in the Melbourne Cup on two occasions but Dunlop said that he could not have been happier with his tough stayer’s performance, which has been rated the best performance of his racing career.
“It was an unbelievable run by him,” Dunlop said.
“It was a massive result with a massive weight.
“I know that he didn’t win again but to run in three Melbourne Cups and come second in it twice is really phenomenal for an international horse.
“The horse thrives when he travels.
“I think it’s the individual attention and the great job that my team do.”
Dunlop said before the Melbourne Cup that Red Cadeaux was on his ‘zimmer frame retirement tour’ but is now eyeing a possible tilt at a fourth Melbourne Cup.
“It depends on how the horse is,” Dunlop said.
“The owner loves the race and the horse has just run another brilliant race.”
