3 minute read
English trainer Brian Ellison and Irishman Willie Mullins haven't had much luck in Melbourne in the past but are hoping that will change with their respective Melbourne Cup nominations Ladies Best and Deutschland.
Ellison has endured nothing but bad luck in his two trips to Melbourne.
His brave stayer Carte Diamond suffered life-threatening injuries in a trackwork accident at Flemington just a week before the 2005 Melbourne Cup, while Perth Cup runner-up Bay Story broke down during the running of the Lavazza Long Black (2800m) on Melbourne Cup day in 2007.
If Ladies Best wins next month's Ebor Handicap (2800m) the tough staying mare will guarantee herself a start in the Melbourne Cup on November 3.
Ladies Best's most recent win was over 1800m at Pontefract in April while in September 2007 the five-year-old started favourite and finished second behind last year's Caulfield Cup winner All The Good over 2400m.
She also has a win to her credit over UK stayer Buccellati, a horse owned by Racing Victoria Board member Peter McMahon.
Mullins is well known in Australia as the trainer of Holy Orders whose stubborn antics gained much publicity in the lead-up to the 2003 Melbourne Cup, a race in which he ran 17th to Makybe Diva.
Holy Orders refused to gallop at Sandown in the lead-up to the Cup and Caulfield trainer Ross McDonald was called in to chase the horse around the track on a four-wheel motorbike to get him to do his work.
Mullins' entry for this year's Cup, Deutschland, is a six-year-old gelding who has won five of his past seven starts, three of them over jumps.
Deutschland is a very proficient jumper, having won two hurdles and three steeplechases in his 28-start career.
He has also won three races on the flat including his last two starts over 2600m at Navan and 3300m at Dundalk.
Like Holy Orders, Deutschland is also owned by Allan McLuckie.
Entries for the Caulfield Cup (2400m), Cox Plate (2040m) and Melbourne Cup (3200m) close on Tuesday.
Other confirmed Cups entries are Dermot Weld's leading Melbourne Cup contender Profound Beauty and her stablemate Directa King, the Andrew Balding-trained Hatton Flight, Richard Hannon's Scintillo and Askar Tau, trained by Marcus Tregoning.