A super confident Gai Waterhouse is playing up the chances of her Melbourne Cup hope Glencadam Gold and is expecting the five year old to be in the finish at Flemington tomorrow.
Glencadam Gold was sent out the $4.40 favourite for the Group 1 $2.5m BMW Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 20 but the effort to cross the field from barrier seventeen and set a solid pace took its toll and the English import faded to finish a tiring fifteenth behind Dunaden.
But Waterhouse, who is looking for her first Cup win, has dug deep into her bag of tricks and after fixing a minor hoof injury last week and a session over the hurdles at early morning trackwork, the top Sydney trainer doesn’t consider Glencadam Gold a $51 chance in the Group 1 $6m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m).
“The horse really is in good shape and people should not forget he started favourite in the Caulfield Cup and not much went right for him,” Waterhouse said..
“Now he’s 50-1 and nobody wants a bar of him – that might be a big mistake,”
Trainers often use a session over the hurdles, called schooling, on stayers to sharpen them up and put their mind back on the job to get them back in form.
“He’s very fit and well and I just wanted to let him know it is game on now,” Waterhouse said.
Waterhouse is willing to forgive Glencadam Gold for his out of character run in the Caulfield Cup after jockey Jim Cassidy explained that the gelding lost his rhythm and balance when he hit a chopped up patch of the track and was struggling from that point.
“He was gone from that point Jimmy Cassidy said,” Waterhouse quoted.
Waterhouse has done an outstanding job with Glencadam Gold and the English import was undefeated from four Australian start before his failure in the Caulfield Cup including an all the way victory in the Group 1 $400,000 McGrath Estate Agents Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick on October 6.
But Waterhouse points out the Metropolitan form is standing up with runner-up Kelinni forcing his way into the Melbourne Cup field with a win in the Group 3 $250,000 The Lexus Stakes (2500m) at Flemington last Saturday.
“His form from The Metropolitan is fabulous with Kelinni coming out on Saturday and winning the Lexus. Gosh I think he’ll run a mighty race in the Cup,” Waterhouse said.
Waterhouse will also be saddling up new stable acquisition Fiorente who will be having his first run for Tulloch Lodge after stable clients purchased the English stayer only a few months ago.
Fiorente is yet to be tested over 3200m but was a comfortable winner over 2400m in the Group 2 £110,000 Princess Of Wales’s Goldsmiths Stakes at Newmarket on July 12 before finishing fourth at Longchamp in France in the Group 2 €130,000 QATAR Prix Foy (2400m) on September 16.
While Glencadam Gold is at $51 in the Melbourne Cup market, Fiorente is more fancied at $26.
French stayer Americain is still at the top of betting at $6 with Mount Athos at $7 gaining support ahead of last year’s winner Dunaden at $7.50.
English galloper Red Cadeaux is at $9.50 with Maluckyday the best of the Australian trained runners at $13.
