Trainer John O’Shea hasn’t ruled out the remote possibility of second emergency Complacent gaining a late call up into the field for the Group 1 $3m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Second emergency Complacent needs two horses ahead of him to be scratched from the Caulfeld Cup to gain a start. Photo by Steve Hart.
O’Shea accepted with three Godolphin horses in the Caulfield Cup with only one, Hauraki, being included in the main field while Metropolitan winner Magic Hurricane joined Complacent as one of the emergencies.
Fourth emergency Magic Hurricane has virtually no chance of gaining a run, but Complacent needs two of the top ninteen to come out to gain a place in the final field.
O’Shea said that if there was a race morning scratching on Saturday and first emergency Quest For Fame was to gain a start, he would consider scratching Hauraki so Complacent could get his chance to run in the Caulfield Cup.
“We’ll give it some consideration over the next 24 hours, if that situation eventuates, we’ll have a look at the track,” O’Shea told racing.com.
“The thing about Hauraki is he loves that ground – the firmer the better for him – whereas Complacent’s probably just a little bit compromised on real firm ground.”
“The more we look at the race, it does look as though Complacent gets a good run.”
“Hauraki’s primed to run the race of his life, and he’s probably entitled to have that crack, to be fair.
“When the barriers came out, I just lamented Complacent not getting a run because he’s going to get a beautiful run in the race.”
“He’s primed to run a mile-and-a-half, he’s got a beautiful weight (53kg), he’s going to run the race of his life.
“It’s a big call.”
Complacent was given barrier ten out of the original twenty-two positions while Hauraki came up with barrier fourteen.
If all the four emergencies fail to gain a start, Hauraki will come into ten and race day jockey James McDonald said the Reset four year old felt terrific at track work on Thursday morning.
“James come out and rode both this morning, and he just couldn’t believe how much Hauraki has improved in the last seven days,” O’Shea said.
“We’ll just lay our cards on the table and see what the boss wants to do.
“Whatever he decides, I’ll be happy with.”
Even though Complacent is still not guaranteed a run in the Caulfield Cup, he has come in for some support in the betting and has firmed in form $15 to $13 while Hauraki has drifted from $8.50 to be a $9 chance.
If Complacent does gain a start and he is your Caulfield Cup pick, you can get over the odds by taking advantage of Ladbrokes Caulfield Cup Day Special Offer of Best Tote or SP + 20% on every race at Caulfield this Saturday up to a maximum bet of $50.
Complacent has won two of his four Spring Carnival runs with a victory over the Chris Waller trained Kermadec in the Group 2 $250,000 Tattersalls Club Chelmsford Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on September 5 and then two starts later beat Hauraki in a bob of the heads finish in the Group 3 $125,000 Craven Plate (2000m) at Randwick on October 3.
Caulfield Cup market order at Ladbrokes.com.au: $4.80 Mongolian Khan, $9 Hauraki, $9.50 Set Square, $10 Fame Game, Rising Romance, $11 Snow Sky, $13 Complacent, $15 Hokko Brave, $17 Gust Of Wind, Magic Hurricane, $21 Royal Descent, $26 Volkstok’N’Barrell, Our Ivanhowe, Who Shot Thebarman, Trip To Paris, $31 Lucia Valentina, $41 Grand Marshall, $51 Protectionist, Dibayani, Magnapal, Quest For More, $126 Magicool.
