3 minute read
BC3 Thoroughbred's international Cup raiders Sanagas and Val Champ will join two leading stables after being released from quarantine.
International stayers Sanagas and Val Champ will start their Melbourne Cup campaigns this week with Bart Cummings and Anthony Freedman respectively after being released from quarantine in Sydney.
Both horses, bought by BC3 Thoroughbreds, have been at the Eastern Creek facility for two weeks and were due to leave the centre on Sunday.
BC3 Thoroughbreds chief executive Bill Vlahos said the company's equine expert John Brocklebank had accompanied both horses to Australia and had reported they had travelled well and put on weight.
"Bart and Anthony have had them on their feed programs and both horses are in good shape," Vlahos said.
Sanagas will be assessed at Cumming's Princes Farm before being transferred to his Saintly Place stables at Flemington as early as Monday.
Val Champ was scheduled to be transferred directly to Freedman's Rye stables in Victoria.
Val Champ is $26 in TAB Sportsbet's opening Melbourne Cup market while Sanagas is $35.
Vlahos said while all shares in Sanagas had been sold there were still opportunities available in Val Champ for prospective owners.
An Argentinian stayer, Val Champ is a three-year-old son of 2001 Breeders Cup Mile winner Val Royal and has passed the ballot for the Melbourne Cup for the next two years.
His Melbourne Cup lead up will be either the Caulfield Cup or the Cox Plate.
Val Champ has raced 10 times for a maiden victory over 2000 metres by 10 lengths and a Group Two Eduardo Casey (2200m) triumph.
He lost the Group One Nacional Stake (2500m) on protest before finishing a close-up fourth against older horses in arguably South America's most prestigious race, the Group One Carlos Pellegrini (2400m).
Six-year-old Sanagas is an exciting American import who has won seven of his 11 starts.
He was a dominant 3-1/4-length winner of the Group One Hollywood Turf Cup (2400m) last November.
Cummings has watched a replay of the win and was impressed with the acceleration Sanagas showed after racing wide without cover.
