Mongolian Khan edges out Trip To Paris in a thrilling renewal of the Caulfield Cup.
Trip To Paris continued his remarkable ascendancy in Australia on Saturday morning when warming up for a tilt at the Melbourne Cup by finishing a half-length second in the Caulfield Cup under a superb ride by Tommy Berry.
The Ascot Gold Cup hero, who has morphed from mid-level handicapper into a stayer supreme this season, showed his forte to be both speed as well as stamina when chasing home dual-Derby winner Mongolian Khan in the mile and a half showpiece.
Having his first run since being undone by tacky ground at the Ebor Meeting, Trip To Paris raced in mid-division from an inside draw throughout the early stages of the A$3,000,000 contest.
He was shuffled back turning for home and momentarily looked as if he would be denied any sort of run, but the racing Gods performed a Moses-esque parting of the 18-runner field, and he took full advantage of the dream split handed to him on the rail by quickening like a good one.
The winner, a well-backed favourite who was the best southern hemisphere three-year-old last season, had already stolen first run, but TTP was doing all of his best work at the finish. There was a length and a quarter back to the third with another two lengths back to the remainder, so the form stacks up on paper and this was a superb preparation for the first Tuesday in November.
The handicapper reacted by penalising Mongolian Khan 1kg, or 2.2lbs in old money, for the Melbourne Cup. That would look favourable from our perspective, a half-length beating over a mile and a half traditionally equating to 0.75lbs.
Robin, Steve and Darkie have reported the horse to have taken his exertions well, and we now know the very different style of racing in Australia poses no problems to TTP.
All in all, we are delighted to kick off our international winter on such a good footing and we are thrilled for both the horse and his owners. We also have the small matter of Red Cadeaux, too, and he is flying ahead of a fifth tilt at the race that stops the nation.
To have two prime candidates for the Cup is an incredibly fortuitous position to be in and we know how lucky we are. Credit must also go to my wonderful team in Australia, whose hard work and dedication keeps the ball rolling.
The long, two-week countdown to November 3 begins!