Lexus winner Oceanographer right in the mix to give Sheikh his first Melbourne Cup win
DID the Cup winner run at Flemington on Saturday?
Bookmakers reacted savagely to Oceanographer’s Lexus Stakes win on Saturday after he carved out a blistering final 600m of 33.51sec to win.
Overall the time was fast as well, so figures-wise, he blitzed it.
MELBOURNE CUP: FORM GUIDE
But to balance the performance, he did only just reel in Tom Melbourne.
Handicapper Greg Carpenter was suitably impressed, penalising the Godolphin horse 1kg.
In the past decade the only other Lexus winners to earn a penalty were Maluckyday (who ran second in the Cup) and Signoff (fourth).
Carpenter pointed out that eight of the past nine Lexus winners have finished top 10 in the Cup.
In the last 15 years, Shocking (2009) and Viewed (2008) are the lone Cup winners to run on Derby Day. Vintage Crop changed the race in 1993. Before him, 15 of the previous 16 Cup winners had run on Derby day.
Certainly Oceanographer has put new interest into the Cup, but whether he is classy enough remains to be seen.
What is certain though is that Sheikh Mohammed has his best-ever chance to finally win the Holy Grail, as Oceanographer franked the form of stablemate Qewy and the Godolphin team also have the Cup favourite Hartnell weighted to win.
Surely it will happen for the Sheikh this year!
UNLIKELY FRIEND: Dean Yendall found an unlikely ally in Racing Victoria chief stipe Terry Bailey in the wake of his “Horn-gate” slip of the tongue after winning Saturday’s Myer Classic.
Yendall told a national television audience he had a “raging horn” after steering I Am A Star home. Rather than grill or fine the jockey, Bailey lent sympathy.
“What do you expect when you have a microphone thrust in your face straight after a race?” Bailey said. “It is a time when emotions can get the better of you.”
Yendall had waited 32 years for his first Group 1, which he enjoyed when Yankee Rose won the Spring Champion at Randwick earlier this month.
He didn’t have to wait 32 years for another one and the lightweight rider was the perfect pilot for I Am A Star, guiding her along near the front and giving an almighty kick with only 49kg on her back.
BEHIND THE TIMES: The VRC’s move to put the Cup draw back to 7pm local time hardly attracted universal approval. It’s a terrible fit for publications putting out Cup sweeps and form guides and the timing meant some did not even carry the Cup field.
ROSE COLOURED: Yankee Rose trimmed up a touch further for Thursday’s VRC Oaks despite not setting a hoof near Flemington on Saturday. UBET wound her into $1.95 after Tiamo Grace took out the Wakeful Stakes. The Darren Weir-trained Tiamo Grace was too slick in a slowly run Wakeful, where she was able to zip home in 33.39sec for her final 600m.
OLLIE’S RIGHT CALL: Earlier in the year, Damien Oliver surprisingly opted for Flying Artie over Extreme Choice in the Blue Diamond. It was a costly call at the time, but Saturday’s Coolmore Stud Stakes suggested Oliver’s opinion that Artie is the better horse may be right. Unfortunately for Oliver, his first-up win on the colt came with a suspension that had him sitting on the sidelines when the son of Artie Schiller won the stallion-making race for Hugh Bowman on Saturday.
ON THIN ICE: Chief stipe Terry Bailey told Zac Purton he came within an inch of earning himself a suspension after riding Sacred Elixir to second place in the Derby. Tommy Berry was not so lucky. He earned an 11 meeting stretch, which begins after Cup day.