After the confirmation came that Zac Purton will ride Chris Waller’s Land Legend in the 2024 Melbourne Cup, two more jockey bookings have been announced.
Irish trainer Willie Mullins has confirmed riding arrangements for Vauban and Absurde. We are now less than three weeks out from the big race.
Buick and McEvoy Get the Call
Irish jumps trainer Willie Mullins is set to saddle the same two runners as 2023 in the upcoming Melbourne Cup. Both Vauban and Absurde have returned to Victoria. Mullins has now confirmed who will ride his pair of Melbourne Cup runners.
According to Mullins, Vauban is in a better place now and could once again be favourite for the race. The ride on him goes to top-class English-based rider William Buick who has had a marvellous spell as the retained rider for Godolphin, based with Charlie Appleby.
Buick is fresh from having landed all three recent major Group 1 two-year-old autumn races in England. He was successful on Shadow Of Light in both the Middle Park and Dewhurst Stakes. He also romped home last Friday aboard Desert Flower in the Fillies’ Mile.
Buick has landed races in the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Dubai, France and other territories in the past.
Absurde, who did the better of the pair in last year’s race, will be ridden by three-time Cup winner and Aussie household name Kerrin McEvoy. The star jockey took the Melbourne Cup on Brew in 2000 and on Almandin in 2016. He also won aboard Charlie Appleby’s Cross Counter in 2018.
More jockey bookings are expected to be confirmed in the next week or two. Trainers are now rushing round to find the best possible partner for their Melbourne Cup hopes. We will find out more as the field begins to take shape, with the St Leger Stakes the next race to have a major impact on that.
Melbourne Cup Place at Stake in St Leger Stakes
Allegron and Etna Rosso head the betting market for this week’s St Leger Stakes at Randwick. The 2600m contest will afford Bjorn Baker’s Allegron a guaranteed Melbourne Cup place if he is successful.
Sitting on $3.60, Allegron is a clear favourite just now and there is plenty at stake. Etna Rosso looks dangerous in behind at $4.80, ahead of Trust In You at $7.00.
Allegron’s achievements mean that he can get into the Cup with a win this week, though the St Leger Stakes isn’t a Golden Ticket race. There are however two more races to come offering ballot exemption for the winner.
The Cox Plate is run on October 26. A huge race in its own right, that is a weight-for-age event over 2000 metres. Those conditions, allied to being run shortly before the Cup, means it is not the number one Golden Ticket event.
That honour goes to this weekend’s Caulfield Cup over 2400 metres, a race we will all watch with great enthusiasm.
