Well that was a journey that didn’t go to plan! After an arduous trip that featured a cracked plane windscreen and an extended stay on the tarmac in Sharjah, and took almost three times longer than scheduled, Red Verdon and his numerous travelling companions finally made it to Melbourne.
In the days since arrival he has been kept ticking over by Robin Trevor-Jones and Steve Nicholson and, as you will see from the pics and videos, he looks in rude health. RTJ reports that Verdon is doing everything that is required as we build towards the Caulfield Cup in two weeks’ time. We must extend our thanks to Robin and Steve for all their ongoing work with Verdon and the amazing lengths they went to helping the horses when stranded during transit.
The next key date in his preparation is not a piece of work but rather a bit of administrative finger biting. The next declaration stage for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups is on Tuesday (Monday UK time) and as we sit 26th in the list for Caulfield (maximum field of 18) and even lower down the list for Melbourne, it would relieve a bit of stress should we see Verdon’s name climb the list of acceptors quite a bit! There are contingency plans in place of course, but fingers crossed that we gain entry to the headline events.
After the next round of declarations has taken place we will be back with a further update. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy some pictures and videos of Verdon acclimatising to life down under!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wuF9tlShOo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wuF9tlShOo