Jon Snow out of Melbourne Cup
Jon Snow’s Melbourne spring campaign has come to an end after he tailed the field home in Saturday’s Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m).
Nothing went to plan for the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained five-year-old and the decision has been made by his connections to bring him home.
“Bursting through the gates (before the start) didn’t help,” Forsman said.
“Damian (Lane, jockey) said he came out of the gates the second time and felt like a bit of a stunned mullet.
“The plan was to work forward and he couldn’t quite get there and was just planted three-wide without cover most of the way on a slow speed. Then they sprinted and he got left flat-footed. Nothing really worked out and at that level things really do have to go your way.”
While disappointed in his run, Forsman said Jon Snow has pulled up really well and is in top order, but a lack of options for him has put an end to his spring preparation.
“He’s great, he looks outstanding,” Forsman said.
“That is the most disappointing thing, he’s in such good order. But at this level there is no hiding when things don’t fall into place.
“He flies home on Wednesday night, so he will be back in New Zealand on Thursday morning.
“There were just a lack of options for him here heading forward. In terms of weight-for-age, basically it was the Emirates (Group 1, 2000m) on the last day of the carnival.
“That is going to be very competitive and looks another level-up, with those internationals, from what he competed against in the Makybe Diva (Group 1, 1600m). So that was always a hard race to wait around for.
“If we considered a handicap he is just too poorly off in the handicaps to be fair to him.”
The Group 1-winning son of Iffraaj will now head home for a freshen-up before his connections eye autumn spoils with the entire.
“We thought we might just be better off to bring him home, give him a little freshen-up and target a weight-for-age race at home and then consider our options heading into the autumn.”
Meanwhile, the Cambridge training duo still have Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) contender Zacada vying for a spot in the two-mile feature.
The Group 1 Sydney Cup (3200m) runner-up will contest the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) on Wednesday and Forsman is hoping for big things from the Zabeel six-year-old.
“He’s really good, he finally looks sharp and fit like he might be ready to do something, so he looks to be peaking at the right time.”