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Harry Eustace looks to have unearthed an unlikely Melbourne Cup contender after Sea King ran out a comfortable winner of the Group 3 Bendigo Cup on Wednesday.
Previously trained by Sir Mark Prescott in England, the five-time winner, who was making his debut for owners OTI and the Eustace team, finished a highly creditable sixth in the York Ebor on his last start.
Ridden by the Irish-born jockey Declan Bates, Sea King moved smoothly into contention before powering away from Berkeley Square to land the spoils at odds of 9/2 by an impressive three- and three-quarter lengths. Star Vega finished a head away in third.
Success in the Group 3 Bendigo Cup on Wednesday qualifies the Harry Eustace-trained stayer for Tuesday's Group 1 Melbourne Cup at Flemington, but both Eustace and managing part-owner Terry Henderson were quick to admit the Melbourne Cup had not been on their agenda after his Ebor run.
"Curiously, coming down, we never even thought we'd get close and, of course, since we've been here, the Cup, as everyone is well aware, has really started cutting up," Eustace said.
"So, the closer we got to getting in the more pressure there was I suppose.
"It's incredibly exciting. A lot was riding on it, it's the last win-and-you're-in for the Cup, so it's an absolute dream result today.
"I'd just like to thank Terry (Henderson) in particular, he managed to buy this horse just before Docklands travelled down as well and it's proving a pretty inspired purchase."
Henderson said Sea King had travelled to Melbourne primarily as a travelling companion for Docklands, who finished fifth to Via Sistina in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley last Saturday. However, after watching him thrive during his time in quarantine at Werribee and after some impressive trackwork, victory seemingly wasn't a major surprise for the OTI managing part-owner.
"The stats of his (Sea King) record during trackwork have been great and it's a great credit to Harry and his team to present him like this today," Henderson said.
"I think we probably got more confidence out of the fact that he was working with a Group 1 horse, and it was terrific to see what the other horse (Docklands) did the other day, but that Ebor form is always good form."