James McDonald On The Melbourne Cup
J A McGrath
2 November, 2015
I am riding in my fourth Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday, and frankly, it cannot come soon enough. I can't wait.
I am riding in my fourth Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday, and frankly, it cannot come soon enough. I can't wait.
I partner Hartnell for Team Godolphin in the Cup, and I think he has an excellent chance. In the market, he is an outsider, but I reckon he should be third favourite, behind Fame Game and Trip To Paris.
Hartnell quickly became one of our stars in Sydney in the Autumn. He acclimatised well and won two races, including the G1 BMW at Rosehill, which I think stamped him potentially one of the best stayers in the country.
This preparation, John O'Shea (his trainer) has had one race in mind, the Melbourne Cup. And everything has gone well, I am pleased to say.
I liked his fifth in the Cox Plate, over 2040m, last start, and he has done well since. Our barrier 17 is not great, but it could have been worse.
There are bigger race days than Cup Day for jockeys in Australia, but there is not a bigger single race. It captivates the nations of Australia and New Zealand, and these days, countries beyond. For three minutes, 20-odd seconds, on Tuesday, all normal life in this part of the world will come to a halt.
Everybody will be waiting for the start of the Cup. Most will have an interest. I hope Hartnell will give us all a good run. I expect him to.
I will be very busy riding on Cup Day. I won't think about the Cup until I come back into the room after riding in Race 6. Then, there will be a gap of one hour to the Cup, and that's when I will focus.
It's a funny thing, those minutes leading up to the Cup are very different in the jockeys' room. Everybody gets a little quieter. You won't see any of the normal banter across the room. The mood becomes a little more serious.
Hartnell is a proven 3200m horse. He won the Queen's Vase, over two miles, at Royal Ascot last year when he was trained by Mark Johnston in the UK.
He is going to be staying on when others are dropping out.
I feel this is a great opportunity for Godolphin. It would be a dream come true if Hartnell could win it for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed and the team.
