Tres Blue Purchased By Roundtable Racing Ahead Of Melbourne Cup

Progressive European stayer Tres Blue has been purchased by new horse racing syndicate Round Table Racing and will join the stable of Gai Waterhouse ahead of the 2013 Melbourne Cup (3200m).

Tres Blue will join the Gai Waterhouse stable ahead of the 2013 Melbourne Cup.

Tres Blue will join the Gai Waterhouse stable ahead of the 2013 Melbourne Cup. Photo by: Taron Clarke

Bruce Slade, the former racing manager for Waterhouse, launched Round Table Racing on Saturday and they have already made a major splash by acquiring the stayer who Slade believes fits the mold of 2012 Melbourne Cup runner-up Fiorente.

Slade told Racing Ahead that his team were lucky to secure the services of the Anabaa Blue entire and said he was delighted to finally have completed the deal.

“This horse has been on our radars for a few months,” Slade said on RSN.

“We were lucky enough to purchase him quiet opportunistically.

Horst Rapp, who raced the horse in France, did not want to sell the horse outright and preferred to follow his own Melbourne Cup dream and retain 35%.

“We were able to purchase 65% and put some of our good loyal owners from the stable into the horse.

“It is great to have the deal done and now we just cross fingers and hope for the best that all the preparation go ok.”

Tres Blue has raced consistently during the 2013 European racing season; finishing second in the Group 1 Sparda Deutsches Derby (2413m) in Germany before winning the Group 3 Osaf Prix De Reux (2500m) and Group 2 Lucien Barriere Grand Prix De Deauville (2500m) in France.

Slade said that Tres Blue has improved in each of his starts and based on his form lines in Europe can be very competitive in the Melbourne Cup.

“He fits the exact profile that Gai and Rob (Waterhouse) look for,” Slade said.

“He is only lightly-raced, he is a Northern Hemisphere three-year-old, and he just keeps improving start to start.

“In his last two Group races he has won all the form lines run through Europe’s most prestigious race the Arc De Triomphe and he has form lines through Flintshire and Orfevre.

“The form lines around him stack up brilliantly and the best thing about him is that he travels to Melbourne drops back to a handicap race in the Melbourne Cup, only has to carry 51kg and is guaranteed a start.”

Tres Blue is set to become the first Northern Hemisphere three-year-old to contest the Melbourne Cup since Mahler finished third behind Efficient in the 2007 edition of the race and Slade believes that his latest acquisition has even more talent than the Aidan O’Brien-trained Mahler.

“Mahler was the last (Northern Hemisphere three-year-old) to come over and he carried the same weight and ran third in the Melbourne Cup,” Slade said.

“He was off a Timeform rating of 115 and Tres Blue already has a rating of 119 and keeps improving.”

Tres Blue will arrive in Australia on October 19 and will be based at the Werribee International Equine Centre in the lead-up to the Melbourne Cup.

About The Author

Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.