Narrow miss for Sully in Cranbourne Cup; Melbourne Cup tilt in the balance

Narrow miss for Sully in Cranbourne Cup

A philosophical Natalie Young was looking at the positives after Sully finished a gallant second in Sunday’s Listed Cranbourne Cup (2025m) on his home track.

Young, who prepares the Reliable Man four-year-old with partner Trent Busuttin from their Cranbourne base, was taking defeat on the chin after Sully led for all but the last five strides of the contest before succumbing to the challenge of Octabello.

“It’s a little disappointing running second, especially on his home track as we really had this horse geared up for the Cranbourne Cup,” she said.

“At least we’ve got horses running at this time of the year so you really can’t complain.

“He’s come back great as his last run at Caulfield was awesome and he finally got a gate today where he put himself right there.

“There’s the likes of the Bendigo Cup or the Geelong Cup so we will push our way through to that if he pulls up well.

“There’s a big race in him soon.”

Melbourne Cup tilt in the balance

A fourth attempt at the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) will hang in the balance at Moonee Valley on October 27 for Who Shot Thebarman.

The Gr.1 Sydney Cup (3200m) winner will line-up in the Gr.2 Moonee Valley Gold Cup (2500m) off the back of a disappointing ninth-placing in wet conditions to compatriot Moss ‘n’ Dale in the Gr.3 Graven Plate (2000m) at Randwick on Saturday.

“He’s a really good horse and he’s won on heavy tracks before, but he wasn’t at home at all in the going on Saturday, it was just as wet as it gets in Sydney,” trainer Chris Waller said.

“We’ll make sure he’s come through the race well and at this stage it looks like he has, but we’ll do some other checks as well to make sure he’s 100 percent.

“We’ll head to Moonee Valley for the Moonee Valley Gold Cup, which he won last year, and that will decide whether he progresses to the Melbourne Cup or not.”