Trainer Ed Dunlop has confirmed that Red Cadeaux will go straight into the 2014 Melbourne Cup at Flemington on November 4 and will not run in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 18.
Red Cadeaux will go straight to the Melbourne Cup and bypass the Caulfield Cup. Photo by Taron Clarke
Red Cadeaux was sent to Australia with the first planeload of 2014 Spring Racing Carnival contenders with the idea of having a Melbourne Cup lead-up run in either the Caulfield Cup or the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) at Caulfield on October 11, but Dunlop has elected to follow the same formula that has previously been successful with the veteran stayer in ‘the race that stops a nation’.
“We are very happy with the way he has travelled and the way he is training, but we don’t want to run him on quick ground before the big race,” Dunlop told Racing.com.
Red Cadeaux has previously contested the Melbourne Cup on three occasions and has never had a lead-up run in Australia before contesting the Group 1 event.
The Cadeaux Genereux gelding made his Melbourne Cup debut in 2011 and he stormed home from towards the tail of the field to finish second behind Dunaden in the closest finish in the history of the Melbourne Cup.
Red Cadeaux returned to Australia for the Melbourne Cup a year late with the heftier weight of 55 and a half kilograms and the race was not run to suit, but he was still able to earn prizemoney for connections with an eighth place finish.
There was very little betting support for Red Cadeaux heading into the 2013 edition of the Melbourne Cup, but the tough stayer stamped himself as one of the most popular horses of the world when he battled home to finish a brave second behind Fiorente after being caught wide in the early stages of the race.
Red Cadeaux finished fourth in the Group 1 Hong Kong Vase (2400m) following the Melbourne Cup last year and finished a credible sixth in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup (2000m) at Meydan in March before he failed to handle the firm track in the Group 1 Tenno Sho (3218m) at Kyoto on May 4.
The popular galloper returned to racing with a strong fourth in the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes (2670m) at Newbury on August 16, but he produced an uncharacteristically poor performance in the Group 3 September Stakes (2414m) at Kempton Park on September 6.
Red Cadeaux is currently available at 2014 Melbourne Cup odds of $34 with Ladbrokes Australia.
