Vauban could remain in Australia after second Cup flop, says owner

In today’s spring carnival briefing, your wrap of racing news:

• Irish horse Vauban could race out his final days in Australia after a successive Melbourne Cup flop, his millionaire owner Rich Ricci says.
• The connections of beaten Melbourne Cup favourite Buckaroo believe jockey Joao Moreira’s ride cost their horse any chance of victory.
• Pride Of Jenni owner Tony Ottobre has opted for a shock jockey change in a bid to spark one of the country’s most popular gallopers for Champions Day at Flemington on Saturday.
• Champions Day at Flemington will see the return of Via Sistina after the record-breaking Cox Plate winner was withdrawn by connections from the Melbourne Cup.

Vauban could stay in Australia after Cup flops

Rob Harris
Irish horse Vauban could race out his final days in Australia after a successive Melbourne Cup flop, his millionaire owner Rich Ricci says, as he ponders what the future is for his group 1 winning gelding.

Vauban has not run to expectations in his Melbourne Cup appearances.Credit: Getty Images

Ricci, a UK-based American investment banker who owns Vauban alongside wife Susannah, said he would consider his options with the horse, who finished 11th on Tuesday – three places better than last year – over the coming days. The Irish star finished five and a quarter lengths behind shock $81 winner Knight’s Choice.

Rich Ricci, the owner of Vauban.Credit: Getty Images

Champion Irish trainer Willie Mullins told reporters that Flemington “just doesn’t seem to be his track” after Tuesday’s race, conceding he was unlikely to bring Vauban back for a third crack at the race.

But Ricci said it was also unclear what the seven-year-old’s future would be in Europe, despite winning $2.4 million over the hurdles and on the flats, including at group 1 level. He said keeping the horse in Australia could be on the cards but added he’d discuss it with Mullins when the dust settled.

“I’m not sure what I want to do with him,” Ricci told the Nick Luck Daily racing podcast.

“We’ll have a think about what we do over the next couple of days, no decisions today but, I wouldn’t bring him back, no.

“We could take him back to Europe, we could leave him here, we could move him on … there are all sorts of things we can do ... we’ve got options and we’ll think about it.”

Ricci said he was disappointed with the result, especially after Vauban had looked “a picture in the mounting yard” and was “ready to rock”.

“For whatever reason he just doesn’t seem to travel down here well, and we’re puzzled,” he said.

Ricci, who primarily buys horses to run over the jumps, said he would love to win the Melbourne Cup and hoped to return if he found the right horse.

“I would encourage anyone who is thinking about coming to come,” Ricci said. “It’s wonderful. There is nothing like it.”

Mullins, 68, also said winning the world-famous $8.6 million race remained an “itch to scratch” and he hoped Absurde, who ran an honourable fifth, would return to Melbourne for a third campaign.

“Racing is full of disappointments and that’s just another one,” Mullins said. “We’ve bought a few new horses that might make into Melbourne Cup horses, so the quest is still on.

Mullins said Vauban, who started the race as second favourite with the bookies, was clearly struggling at the halfway point of the race and wasn’t able to hold his place the way he should have been.

“He jumped off where he wanted to be, but you could see he wasn’t enjoying it,” Mullins said. “It just doesn’t seem to be his track. We thought the preparation had gone right, and he appeared well in the saddling stalls, but he just flattened out on the day ... We’ll have to reload and see what happens.”

Buckaroo’s connections bemoan ride on beaten favourite

Peter Ryan
The connections of beaten Melbourne Cup favourite Buckaroo believe jockey Joao Moreira’s ride cost their horse any chance of victory, with part-owner John O’Neill admitting he “didn’t think the ride was much good”.

Ozzie Kheir, another prominent owner of the group 1 winner, said Moreira’s ride had decreased the horse’s chances.

Buckaroo settled in the back of the field and then fanned wide reducing its chances of winning the Melbourne Cup Credit: Getty Images

In a dramatic post-script, the owners were left lamenting what might have been with O’Neill in the same boat he had been in last year when Moreira failed to find a run for his horse Soulcombe, who finished second.

“I didn’t think the ride was much good,” O’Neill told SEN on Wednesday. “Having said that, I don’t want to be in the position where there are sour grapes because I am happy for the crew that won.”

The race was won by the unfancied Knight’s Choice after virtually unknown jockey Robbie Dolan cut the corner and found the shortest way to the winning post. By contrast Moreira fanned wide at the turn on Buckaroo and was storming home before dying on his run.

Post-race analytics showed Buckaroo ran 3237 metres compared to Knight’s Choice 3222m.

Kheir told this masthead on Wednesday that while he never contemplated whether a horse should or could have won a race, he was confident Buckaroo would have finished closer with a better passage.

“As soon as he was sagged back to the last he probably ended up going from a $7 shot to a $15 shot was my view,” Kheir said. “He reduced his chances of winning from there.

“When he got going from the 800 and [was] circling the whole field I probably knew that our chances were over from there, although for a brief 20 seconds I thought, ‘Here we go’, if he can keep going when he looped them and looked strong.

“Obviously, that didn’t last for long. I just don’t think, and it is probably obvious, you can’t win a Melbourne Cup doing that.

Jockey Joao Moreira rode Buckaroo in the Melbourne Cup.Credit: Kate Geraghty

“You could say he didn’t stay, but I don’t think there was any horse in that field that would have been able to do that and win the race or stay anyway.”

Moreira said after the race he thought the horse, which finished second in the Caulfield Cup and nearly defeated Cox Plate winner Via Sistina in the Turnbull Stakes, didn’t stay the trip.

“[He] didn’t have the best of runs because he was in too wide. It was hard to get in. He had to travel a little wide,” Moreira said.

“He still had cover, but the distance probably just stretched him too much and the last little bit, he started getting tired. So I’d say he couldn’t really run the distance.”

Moreira – who is known as “the Magic Man” – is a talented rider who has had success in Hong Kong. However, his rides in the past two Melbourne Cups have been heavily scrutinised.

O’Neill, who also owned Soulcombe, was gracious in his assessment of how difficult it was for jockeys.

“It’s very difficult because you draw these gates, you draw in, you draw out, you make split-second decisions on things that either win or lose you a race,” O’Neill said.

“If you’re Joao, he’s a world-class rider, does he go back inside? We saw what we experienced last year with Soulcombe going back inside. Funnily enough the horses that ran first [Knight’s Choice], second [Warp Speed] and fifth [Absurde] have all gone back inside.

Moreira and Buckaroo head out to the start gate for the Melbourne Cup.Credit: Getty Images

“For us, it was a really disappointing and frustrating day. We got way too far back in my opinion.”

Trainer Chris Waller admitted on Monday that they had considered replacing Moreira before the Cup when champion jockey James McDonald became available following the decision not to run Via Sistina in the Cup.

However, Kheir said they reflected on their decision to replace Craig Williams on Soulcombe ahead of the race last year and decided not to make a late call to switch jockeys again. Kheir remained undeterred and said the disappointment was part of what made being involved so alluring.

“Why I love the sport so much and why I continue to invest in it is because it is bloody hard to get a horse to these big races and then win them,” Kheir said.

Pride Of Jenni jockey replaced for $3m race

Danny Russell
Pride Of Jenni owner Tony Ottobre has opted for a shock jockey change in a bid to spark one of the country’s most popular gallopers for Champions Day at Flemington on Saturday.

Regular jockey Declan Bates, who has ridden Pride Of Jenni in her past 10 starts, has been replaced by Ben Melham ahead of the $3 million Champions Mile on the final day of the Melbourne Cup carnival.

Bates was a major part of Pride Of Jenni’s rise to racing cult hero, recruited by Ottobre to capitalise on the mare’s bold front-running style that helped her to three group 1 wins and the All-Star Mile before being crowned Australian horse of the year.

Declan Bates salutes as Pride Of Jenni wins the All-Star Mile.Credit: Getty

But Pride Of Jenni has had an indifferent spring carnival, winning the group 2 Feehan Stakes (1600m), but being beaten by Ceolwulf in the $5 million King Charles Stakes (1600m) before tiring badly to finish almost 16 lengths behind Via Sistina in the Cox Plate (2040m).

Ottobre declined to comment about the change of jockeys on Wednesday, but pointed out that his mare had broken the track record for 1600m at Moonee Valley while running in the Cox Plate.

The owner had also questioned Racing NSW stewards about the tactics of rival Major Beel in the King Charles Stakes after the Gai Waterhouse-Adrian Bott galloper kept Pride Of Jenni 10-wide for the opening 500m of the race.

Pride Of Jenni tired late to finish second, while 100-1 shot Major Beel finished eight-lengths tenth.

Trainer Ciaron Maher said the rider change was an owner decision, but expected Pride Of Jenni to still be at the front of the field at some stage of Saturday’s group 1 event.

“She runs consistent fractions so you just need to get them right,” Maher said.

Bates took to social media to say he looked forward to continuing his relationship with the Ottobre family.

“It has been a huge privilege to ride Pride Of Jenni, and one of the greatest experiences of my riding career so far,” he posted on X. “She certainly is a once-in-a-lifetime horse. I wish her and Tony all the best for Saturday.”

Via Sistina back on track

Danny Russell
Champions Day at Flemington will mark the return of Via Sistina after the record-breaking Cox Plate winner was withdrawn by connections from the Melbourne Cup.

James McDonald and Via Sistina will run at Flemington on Saturday.Credit: Eddie Jim

Trainer Chris Waller’s decision to keep Via Sistina at the middle distance of the $3 million group 1 Champions Stakes (2000m) means she will start a red-hot, odds-on favourite.

Her closest rival in the market is group 1-winning stablemate Atishu, while last year’s Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup-winning star Without A Fight will have his first run in 12 months after sustaining a tendon injury.

There will be two big head-to-head clashes in Flemington’s other headline events – the $3 million Champion Sprint and $3 million Champions Mile.

Mr Brightside and Pride Of Jenni will renew hostilities in the 1600m group 1 race, while the first two home in the Everest – Bella Nipotina and Giga Kick – clash in the group 1 1200m sprint.

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.