Appleby not ruling Scottish out of Cup
English trainer Charlie Appleby has not ruled out a Melbourne Cup start for Scottish with stablemates Qewy and Oceanographer also moving close to a start with their first and third in the Geelong Cup.
Appleby said the Godolphin team would finalise plans for the Melbourne Cup early next week with the Emirates Stakes (2000m) also on the agenda for Caulfield Cup runner-up Scottish.
“The team down there are delighted with the way Scottish has come out of his race, so he’s still under consideration as a possible runner in the Melbourne Cup himself,” Appleby told At The Races.
“We’ll watch the Cox Plate and see how Winx and Hartnell perform there before we make a serious decision regarding Scottish because he’s got other options as well as the Melbourne Cup.
“We could look at something like the Emirates, formerly the Mackinnon, so we’ll watch with interest this weekend and probably regroup on Sunday/Monday and to hope to try to finalise where to place them all.
“I think Qewy has just about crept into the Melbourne Cup. He could potentially get an extra half a kilo which would guarantee us a chance of a run there,.
“Likewise with Oceanographer and I was delighted with his run.
“If the two them can get a run it would certainly be considered running the pair of them.”
Appleby also has Second Wave running in Saturday’s Moonee Valley Cup and Francis Of Assisi who is likely to run in next week’s Bendigo Cup in an attempt to pass the first ballot clause for the Melbourne Cup.
The Saeed bin Suroor-trained Secret Number is also headed to the Melbourne Cup for Godolphin while Hartnell, trained in Australia by John O’Shea could also run depending on how he performs against the Chris Waller-trained Winx in Saturday’s Cox Plate.
Closer to home, Appleby has Bay Of Poets primed for Saturday’s Group One Racing Post Trophy at Doncaster but Tryster has been ruled out of the Tenno Sho in Japan with a leg injury.