Australian Bloodstock director Jamie Lovett is banking on the undoubted class of Melbourne Cup topweight Al Riffa being a major factor on Tuesday after Saturday night’s barrier draw seemed to do him no favours.
Australian Bloodstock has shares in three Melbourne Cup runners on Tuesday in Al Riffa, Vauban and Royal Supremacy, but Al Riffa was always going to take much of the attention in the lead-up due to his recent G1 form, which sees him take a whopping 59 kilograms into Tuesday’s $10 million race.
But despite the barrier seemingly adding another complication for the last-start Irish St Leger winner, Lovett said the horse’s immense class made it difficult to discount him.
“Essentially, you always like to draw in but if the rain comes, I am probably not that disappointed (with barrier 19),” Lovett said of the horse Australian Bloodstock part-purchased mid-year.
“I know there will be plenty of speed from outside. Changingoftheguard has drawn 24 and I assume the intention will be to go forward so hoping Mark (Zahra) can get on the back of that and get in somewhere.
“They tell me the horse is great. He never lost any weight on the trip over, and his work has been good, and we’re really excited for Tuesday. I think he’s in a good spot.
“He obviously has got to overcome topweight, which history would suggest is very hard to win with, but I think he is a very good horse.
“I am very confident he will run very well whether or not weight is a factor but he’s one of the better horses to come down in recent times and he just might be able to carry that weight.
“Don’t forget that Joseph (O’Brien) has won two of these (Melbourne Cups) so that experience has got to help as well.”
“He’s just the best horse.”
The panel on #TheVerdict dissect Al Riffa’s Melbourne Cup chances 🏆🧐 pic.twitter.com/hvwVcyYEzj
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Lovett said the 21 barriers for Royal Supremacy came as a blow, but he said he suspected Vauban could have something to give.
“I was a bit disappointed with the draw for Royal Supremacy, so we are just going to have to go back and ride for luck, but Vauban from barrier two is interesting,” he said.
“Obviously, he (Vauban) was disappointing in the Caulfield Cup and if you are looking for an excuse, Blake Shinn said he was on the wrong leg the whole way around, but he was probably a little bit close (to the speed).
“We’re hoping on Tuesday, drawn barrier two, he takes no part early. Hoping there’s plenty of speed. Some of his best races in Europe has been when he was left alone.
“If you remember his win in the Sky High in Sydney, he came from right behind them and I suspect they are going to run this at a fairly good clip and it just might suit him.
“All his best form in Europe is on forgiving or yielding ground, as they call it.
“He is a different horse as the first two times here, he went to pieces in the yard and Gai (Waterhouse) and Adrian (Bott) have done an amazing job to get this horse to be relaxed so if he parades well, I can’t have him not running well.”
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