Red Verdon
Let’s start with an honest admission - the Caulfield Cup didn’t go to plan!
From the off, the race just didn’t quite go to script for Red Verdon. We were not briskly enough away to utilise our good draw, the horse was keener than ideal due to a slow pace, and then when he was trying to make headway on the turn for home, his passage was blocked. He ran on manfully to finish in 11th position, only beaten six and a half lengths by fellow Newmarket raider Best Solution – what a fantastic achievement by Pat Cosgrave and Saeed and his team by the way. Perhaps the greatest frustration of all for us was that Verdon finished one place out of the extremely lucrative prize money!
But that is in the past now and we must look forward to the main event. Hopefully we will make the final cut and get into the race, and we have secured the services of the flying Oisin Murphy, which is very exciting. As you can see from the attached photograph, Red Verdon remains in rude health and is none the worse for his Caulfield effort. There is only one Melbourne Cup, and far from being disheartened by the last race, we are looking forward enormously to having a crack at the big one. The horse should be absolutely spot on for a recent run, so it is onwards and upwards to Flemington!