Mark and Levi Kavanagh relieved as First Immortal scrapes into Melbourne Cup-qualifier The Bart Cummings at Flemington
Melbourne Cup hopeful First Immortal has made the field for The Bart Cummings to the delight and relief of trainers Mark and Levi Kavanagh.
Horse Racing
Don't miss out on the headlines from Horse Racing. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Trainers Mark and Levi Kavanagh were resigned to First Immortal missing out on a chance to book a ticket to the Melbourne Cup on Saturday with victory in The Bart Cummings (2500m) at Flemington.
The father-son training combination on Wednesday almost didn’t accept for the Group 3, as plans to run in the Herbert Power Stakes the following Saturday began to take shape, including a jockey being booked.
Fortunately, they accepted circumstances changed on Thursday, when Carini, the first emergency, dropped out at 9.46am and Fancy Man at 6.36pm.
All of a sudden, potential negatives, second emergency and assigned the widest of 18 barriers, mattered not to the Kavanaghs and connections of the $3.30 TAB favourite.
“We didn’t think we’d be running … we made arrangements for next week and we were going to go the Herbert Power route,” Levi Kavanagh said.
“You don’t normally get many scratchings in races like these … we thought on Monday we weren’t getting in … we ended up accepting because we … thought you better be in it.”
First Immortal dropped back to a 2000m Benchmark 78 last start and bolted in under Hugh Bowman to further stamp his spring potential.
The astute race placement and subsequent 3½-length victory resulted in a healthy and vital rating boost, 84 to 91, to help the progressive stayer scrape into The Bart Cummings.
Bowman, the sixth jockey to win aboard First Immortal, echoed pilots past about the horse’s engine and potential.
“Hugh said to me quietly, before we did a video or anything, ‘geez mate, this thing still has improvement in the tank. You haven’t even wound him up yet’.” Kavanagh said.
“Each jockey has been jumping off and raving about him to us, it’s probably not ideal we’ve had used multiple different jockeys but there’s been no definitive path for us all the way.
“We’ve got goals in mind but you have to be placed where you’re able to get a run, he’s been good so far and he’s run enormous, we got to try him at the top end and see where he takes us.”
Kavanagh has left it up to jockey Daniel Stackhouse, the seventh set to ride First Immortal, to navigate barrier 18 on Saturday.
“You don’t want to be posted wide in his first run up to 2500m this time in and don’t really want to, ideally, have a tough run, still have petrol in the tank,” Kavanagh said.
“We’ll have to play it by ear and Stacky will have to work it out, how strong the pace is and where he’s going to sit … on paper I think it might be a solidly run race, in which case he probably won’t be up the front.
“He’s a horse that’s not one dimensional, he can get back in the run if the pace is strong and really finish off, he can go forward if need be, if the pace is soft, he’s a really tractable horse.”
First Immortal must place top three on Saturday to pass the Melbourne Cup ballot clause and move up the order of entry – whereas a win would guarantee a start in the first Tuesday in November.
Originally published as Mark and Levi Kavanagh relieved as First Immortal scrapes into Melbourne Cup-qualifier The Bart Cummings at Flemington