Kite Wood A Cup Hope For Godolphin
- Sunday, 30 May 2010 04:45
Kite Wood is emerging as a Melbourne Cup contender for the Godolphin stable in its bid to end to finally win Australia's most famous race.
Godolphin has come close with four placings in the Melbourne Cup and the prospects of another raid on the race by the world renowned stable look positive.
Leigh Jordon, Racing Victoria's general manager - racing operations, said it remained unclear which horse or horses would target the $6 million handicap ahead of the closing of entries on August 3.
However Kite Wood, a Group Two winner at Longchamp in France last weekend remains a distinct possibility.
"The race was over 3100 metres, he gave a great front running display and won in the manner of a horse that would be suited to the Melbourne Cup," Jordon told Racing Victoria Online.
The four-year-old will now be set for the Group One Ascot Gold Cup over 4000m on June 17 - day three of the famous Royal Ascot Carnival.
"We'll be watching that race with great interest to see how Kite Wood and several other quality stayers perform," Jordon said.
Another Godolphin horse creating interest for Jordon is former French-based galloper Cutlass Bay despite his failure in the Group One Tattersalls Gold Cup (2100m) at The Curragh in Ireland on May 23.
The previously unbeaten four-year-old won the Group One Prix De Ganay - a ballot exemption race for the Cox Plate - at Longchamp on May 2.
"The reports are he failed to handle the ground at The Curragh, but he's obviously a high quality horse so we'd definitely be interested in attracting him to this year's carnival," Jordon said.
Under the guidance of trainer Saeed bin Suroor, Godolphin's three seconds in the Melbourne Cup have come courtesy of Crime Scene (2009), Give The Slip (2001) and Central Park (1999), while Beekeeper finished third in 2002.
The Melbourne Cup is one of the few major races in the world to have eluded Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation.
The stable's biggest victory in Australia came with the win of 40-1 shot All The Good in the 2008 Caulfield Cup (2400m) with Kerrin McEvoy in the saddle.
McEvoy rode for Godolphin for several years in Europe before returning home to become the number one jockey for Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Australia.
