Big Orange spot on for Melbourne Cup, says trainer Michael Bell
A YEAR after suffering weight loss and enduring a “big culture shock”, Melbourne Cup joint top-weight Big Orange is thriving.
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A YEAR after suffering weight loss and enduring a “big culture shock”, Melbourne Cup joint top-weight Big Orange is thriving.
The strapping gelding last year shed 30kg from his raw-boned frame and struggled initially to adapt before his stirring Cup fifth. Back for a second tilt, Big Orange has regained the 13kg he lost on the flight out from England and is flourishing.
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“He’s a more experienced horse this year,” trainer Michael Bell said.
“That (2015) was the first time he had really ever left Newmarket last year and it was a big culture shock coming to the other side of the world. He seems at home here.
“What we’ve learned is the horse took to it all very well last year. We learned that he enjoyed and that’s why we’re back again this year. He’s a huge horse and weighs around 550 kilos. Big horses take their time to mature and fill their frame.
“We’re very lucky with him. He’s a clean-winded horse that doesn’t need a lot of work. He’ll have a blow tomorrow (Friday). I think he’s pretty much spot on.
“In theory, he should be a better horse this year, and the form book suggests he is.”
Big Orange has started only four times since his close fifth behind Prince Of Penzance but, as Bell suggests, there is plenty of quality in the formline.
He was second in the Group 2 Dubai Gold Cup (3200m) before a nine-length third to Lee and Anthony Freedman’s Exospheric at Newmarket — also at Group 2.
His last two starts before travelling to Werribee yielded a Group 2 victory at Newmarket and a second Goodwood Cup triumph.
Wary of Lloyd Williams’ Almandin, and while not underestimating any of his raider rivals, Bell is confident Big Orange is among the authentic contenders.
“The one that has caught my eye is Almandin,” Bell said. “He looks as though he’s been laid out for the race. (Cup favourite) Hartnell looks a bit of an afterthought to me. He’s had a tough time in the last month so if I was to pick a local horse it would be Almandin.
“No one brings forlorn hopes this far.
“Heartbreak City was impressive in the Ebor but on handicap terms he would struggle to beat Big Orange on the form book.
“Wicklow Brave, we’ve beaten him before. We’ve got a strong contender, but we’ve got top weight (56kg with Our Ivanhowe) but we’re in the mix.”
THE PLACE TO ’BEE
By Eliza Sewell
SAEED bin Suroor emerged from the stables at Werribee International Horse Centre immaculate in a black suit and crisp, white shirt.
Dubai-born, the longest-serving trainer at global juggernaut Godolphin is not your ordinary horse handler.
Thursday was his first visit this spring to the Werribee racetrack, where his Melbourne Cup hopes Beautiful Romance and Secret Number are in quarantine.
He arrived in his business attire, but quickly changed into camel pants, Godolphin blue jumper and black gumboots to look over his horses.
Then, after a shower, he was back in black, shaking hands with the waiting media.
Security guard Nick is manning the Vintage Crop Stables, named after the history-making, Irish-trained Cup winner of 1993, and has worked at the complex during the past five spring carnivals.
“He’s probably the only guy who comes to quarantine in a suit,” Nick said.
On the other side of the compound, regular track watcher David Kinnear started his day at the Newminster Stables with his mobile coffee van.
Kinnear backed the French-trained Americain to win the 2010 Cup and picked up $60,000, which he used to set up “Coffee Cruizin”.
He also had luck with Dunaden in 2011 and Protectionist in 2014.
“There’s two people who are on free coffees for life — (Dunaden’s French trainer) Mikel Delzangles and (Protectionist’s track rider) Jose (Silverio),” Kinnear said.
“Jose stood here every morning and just kept saying, ‘This thing will win, he’ll f---ing win’.”
Silverio is the track rider for German Andreas Wohler, who trained Protectionist and worked Emirates Stakes hope Articus on Thursday.
A Dominican Republic national now living in Germany, Silverio loves salsa dancing and the odd DJ stint, as well as horses.
When he first landed in Australia three years ago, he was driven to Werribee without catching sight of the city and his heart sank.
He has since discovered the Night Cat in Fitzroy, where he unleashes his salsa moves.
“On the first day, I don’t see nothing. I thought, ‘Hello? Where am I? Maybe I’m in the wrong place’,” Silverio said.
At 6.55am Kinnear made a break from the stables and drove his van 200m to the grandstand and joined his customers to survey the horses hitting the track at 7am.
Paddy Guinane, who played 146 games for Richmond between 1958-68, parked his red ute on the racecourse proper fence, almost at the winning post.
He lives 10 minutes down the road and is here most mornings. He sat with veteran clocker Les O’Briem and they were joined by Neil Grieve.
Godolphin was out first with Charlie Appleby’s Scottish and Oceanographer.
Binoculars in hand, the three watched intently.
O’Briem clawed two stopwatches as he timed the sectionals. Numbers were noted.
The Irish gelding Wicklow Brave scooted past, an onlooker observing that he looked big and strong.
There’s a buzz about the Willie Mullins-trained eight-year-old out this way.
Matt Cumani’s mother Sara gave Grey Lion a pat on the nose before the French import went off to work with Gallic Chieftain.
Sara’s husband Luca doesn’t have a Cups horse this spring, so she has been helping Matt.
“It’s super fun,” she said of the Werribee experience.
“They’re always nice, interesting horses.
“It’s always fun to watch what everybody else is doing, because it’s always a bit different.”
The focus on the track was stolen for a moment by a woman carrying a wicker basket of brown paper bags, full of egg and bacon rolls.
She offered one to Kinnear, insisting he add some “dead horse” and, in return, he offered a hot chocolate.
There was a rhythm to the day — talk of everything from old school betting plunges, and how they don’t happen these days, to football.
But mostly it was about the horses.
“You get to know them and after six weeks, you become a little bit attached,” Guinane said.
“You know their capabilities. We had the winner last year, it was an absolute certainty and it (Max Dynamite) got beaten by a 100-1 shot.”
Owners spend $150,000-$200,000 on their adventures Down Under.
Appleby’s troupe includes assistant trainer James Ferguson as well as riders Carey Williamson and Mikey Ennis, “head lad” Chris Connett and Janka Bedbrook, who is hands on with the mucking out.
Aside from Ferguson, none of them has been to Australia before.
They are wide-eyed and can’t believe the Melbourne Cup hype.
They are here for six weeks and trying to make themselves at home, joining in a trivia night at a local hotel.
Ennis has even got himself a bike and pedalled back to his home away from home at a nearby apartment complex.
Bin Suroor rumbled away in a chauffeur-driven BMW — black, of course — while Kinnear packed up his coffee van.
“It’s a leveller,” Kinnear said of racing.
“I was flat out over there one day (making coffee) and Sara Cumani stepped in and gave me a hand.
“I think one of the guys asked somebody else one year, ‘Sheik Fahad (owner of Dunaden), he’s talking to the guy with the coffee, why?’
“Well, we were talking about horses.”
eliza.sewell@news.com.au
Originally published as Big Orange spot on for Melbourne Cup, says trainer Michael Bell
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