The work is done and all is in readiness for Godolphin's Sky Hunter and Hartnell to bid for victory in the world's richest handicap race, the G1, 3200m Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday, November 3.
Time/Date - 15.00hrs local time/Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Racecourse/Country - Flemington/Australia
Surface/Distance - Turf/3200m
The work is done and all is in readiness for Godolphin's Sky Hunter and Hartnell to bid for victory in the world's richest handicap race, the G1, 3200m Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday, November 3.
The English-trained Sky Hunter (Saeed bin Suroor/William Buick) and local entrant Hartnell (John O'Shea/James McDonald) have both pleased in their final workouts with both trainers reporting them fit and well.
Saeed bin Suroor said Sky Hunter, who goes into the Melbourne Cup off a second placing in the G3 Legacy Cup at Newbury on September 19, had merely been kept up to the mark since arriving in Australia two weeks ago.
"All Sky Hunter's main work was completed in the UK before he boarded the plane for Australia," bin Suroor said.
"Since he arrived, he's been well and has been ticking over very nicely.
"His last piece of work was five days ago. I'm pleased with him. He's ready to go.
"I am very happy with his condition going into the Cup."
Hartnell is the first Melbourne Cup runner for Godolphin's head Australian trainer John O'Shea who expressed pride in making his personal debut in his country's greatest race with a horse carrying the famous royal blue colours.
"I'm very happy with Hartnell, he goes into the race off a faultless preparation," O'Shea said.
"But it's difficult to have a lot of confidence in a race like this.
"I'm simply honoured to have a runner for our team and pleased he is going into the race in such good order."
Hartnell has had a more traditional Australian preparation for the $6 million race, racing his way to full fitness with three preparatory runs.
Despite taking a conservative approach to Hartnell's prospects, O'Shea is confident he is ready to give his best.
"The way he got home at the end of the Cox Plate makes me feel he is on track," O'Shea said.
"This is his distance and based on his last few runs I feel he will be competitive."
O'Shea pointed to the presence of 10 individual G1 winners in the 2015 Melbourne Cup as evidence of the strength of this year's race.
"There's no doubting this is one of the classiest Cups for a long while," he said.
"But we've done everything we can to have our horse ready for it. It's up to him now."
While Hartnell will start from the slightly awkward 17 gate, Sky Hunter had better luck, coming up with barrier seven in a race Godolphin has supported with more than 20 runners over almost two decades.
"We have been trying to win the Melbourne Cup for a long time now," bin Suroor said.
"It would mean a lot to the team at Godolphin, to me personally, and to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, if we could win it this year.
"The Melbourne Cup is one of the world's great races, so it would mean a lot to all of us to win it."
Godolphin runners have been placed four times in the Melbourne Cup, the most recent being Crime Scene who finished second in 2009.
