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| Staff Writer |
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Melbourne Cup favourite Vauban's first gallop on Flemington grounds left rival trainer Mick Price shocked.
Vauban, trained by Willie Mullins, has been seen training at the Werribee quarantine centre in preparation for the upcoming Melbourne Cup. The horse has had multiple challenging gallops around the tight track, with Mullins' assistant trainer Dave Casey recently riding Vauban in a gallop alongside fellow Melbourne Cup runner Absurde. Impressively, Vauban and Absurde clocked a swift 23.49 seconds for the final 400 meters.
"There will be no horse that will do more work and he had a bit of a sweat coming back into the mounting yard, as you would, it was like SAS out there," Price, who was at Flemington to watch his Melbourne Cup hope Lastotchka, said.
"I felt tired looking at it.
In June, Vauban won a 2816m handicap race at Royal Ascot by a whopping 7½ lengths, which made him a top contender for the Melbourne Cup. Later in August, the 6YO secured his spot in the Cup with a comfortable win in a Group Three race in Ireland.
Although trainer Mullins had previously come close to Cup victory with Max Dynamite in 2015 and 2017, Casey believes that Vauban is a slightly superior galloper. Even more impressively, Vauban has thrived at Werribee, surprising both track watchers and Casey. While international horses often lose weight during their long flight to Melbourne, Casey has actually had to work to get weight off Vauban, who eagerly puts his head in the feed bin as soon as he's led to his box at Werribee. On Tuesday morning, Vauban outpaced Absurde during trackwork at Flemington.
"It was a job getting weight off him because he'd put it on so quickly when he came," Casey said.
The highly accomplished jockey Ryan Moore has been chosen to ride Vauban in the upcoming Melbourne Cup. Moore's impressive track record includes a win in the 2014 Melbourne Cup with the German-trained horse Protectionist.
The approach for the race will be determined by Moore and trainer Willie Mullins once they have knowledge of the competitors and the barriers for the US$8.4 million event. However, it's been hinted that Vauban is expected to maintain a forward position in the race.