Saeed bin Suroor and Godolphin nearing first Melbourne Cup win
GODOLPHIN is longing for its first Melbourne Cup win at Flemington and Saeed bin Suroor will have two runners in the race that stops a nation on Tuesday.
The royal blue silks have been desperately close throughout their years of trying, which has included three second placings, but Saeed bin Suroor knows the significance of the Cup and is hoping to go one better.
“It’s great to win it, but from Godolphin and Sheikh Mohammed, we think to support Australian racing and maybe 10-20 years we’ve come here, it’d be great to win it, but more to support racing in Australia,” bin Suroor said.
“This year we have two horses, Secret Number and Beautiful Romance. Both won big races in England, Beautiful Romance won a Group two and Secret Number, he ran only one race and won a big race in York last time.”
Beautiful Romance ($51 at CrownBet) drew the inside barrier with Secret Number receiving barrier 10. Bin Suroor was pleased with the barrier draw and believes both runners with give Godolphin a good chance of winning.
“Both are in good form, the draw is fine for them,” he said. “He’s (Secret Number) always the horse we thought would be the right horse to win this race. She’s (Beautiful Romance) doing really well, she’s a Group two winner at York.
“This time of the year the fillies usually show better in their form, but the filly and the colt, they have good form, we just need to see them in a nice position, need to see them handy.
“If we win it, it will be a result for Godolphin, for Dubai, and for the Melbourne Cup. This time we’re looking to see them run better.”
Godolphin finished second in 1999 with Central Park, 2001 with Give The Slip and again in 2009 with Crime Scene.
It will be represented by five runners in the 2016 Melbourne Cup with the Charlie Appleby-trained Qewy and Oceanographer, Saeed bin Suroor’s pair and current favourite Hartnell which is trained locally by John O’Shea.