Melbourne Cup prospects on the line at Geelong

The reputation the G3 Geelong Cup has earned as a guide to the Melbourne Cup will be put to the test by the visiting Godolphin stayers Oceanographer and Qewy when they run in the 2016 renewal on Wednesday, October 19.

Both horses are on trial for next month’s A$6 million G1 Melbourne Cup, and their trainer Charlie Appleby is confident either of them has what it takes to earn a start.

“Oceanographer has done as well as any in our team since arriving and has continued to thrive,” Appleby said.

“He is less exposed than Qewy, but he has great staying potential and is on the upgrade.

“Qewy is a grand, old campaigner who ran extraordinarily well at Royal Ascot and Goodwood at his last two.

“He should be staying on well. I expect them both to be very competitive.”

Appleby’s confidence in his Geelong Cup runners was boosted last weekend by the outstanding performance of G1 Caulfield Cup runner-up Scottish.

“Scottish ran remarkably well and showed us that things are going in the right direction,” he said.

Oceanographer and Qewy will be joined at Geelong by Arab Dawn (John O’Shea/Dwayne Dunn).

The winner of three of his six races in the past 12 months, Oceanographer, who will be ridden at Geelong by Ben Melham, finished seventh in the Ebor, one of the UK’s best handicaps, having previously won impressively over 2100m at Doncaster.

Qewy, who is to be ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, has a record that includes nine starts over jumps, but he comes into the Geelong Cup off good efforts on the flat, both under James McDonald, when second at Royal Ascot and most recently at Goodwood.

Arab Dawn, meanwhile, is looking for a return to the form that won him a Listed contest in Sydney earlier this year.

In recent years the Geelong Cup has been won by the European-trained Melbourne Cup winners Dunaden (2011), American (2010) and Media Puzzle (2002).

The Luca Cumani-trained Bauer won at Geelong and then failed by a nose in the 2008 Cup.

Also at Geelong, the G1 Victoria Derby aspirant Nemrud (John O’Shea/James McDonald) runs in the Listed Geelong Classic and the filly Painted Firetail (John O’Shea/James McDonald) tackles the Listed Rosemont Stud Stakes.