All roads still lead to Flemington on Melbourne Cup day for Team Captain.
There was plenty to like about the return of Team Captain in the Hamilton Cup on Saturday a race he won at his very first start for the Vic Husslers back in 2021.
It’s worth keeping in mind, that he was first-up over 2200 metres, his first run since finishing 8th in the Adelaide Cup in early March.
Officially he finished fourth at Hamilton, 2.5 lengths behind Win O’clock, who was four runs deep into its preparation and rock-hard fit.
CUP RUN NOT TO SUIT
While it was always going to be a big ask for the ‘Captain’ the race didn’t exactly pan out as planned.
“I thought he was terrific” Cumani Racing Manager Nik Plant said.
“The race probably didn’t turn out as we planned, the pace slackened off during the middle stages and when they do that it means it becomes a sprint home.
“He got around the corner looked good, looked balanced, and still got to the line well but he’s having a good blow and will take a lot of benefit from it.
“I thought he was terrific. He will take a lot of benefit from it” Cumani Racing Manager Nik Plant
SPECIAL TREATMENT
Team Captain has now had a total of 33 starts for a record of 6 wins, 5 seconds and 4 thirds amassing $342,730 in prizemoney along the way.
He’s now an 8 year-old and a stable favourite of the Cumani yard.
“We will get him home, obviously he’s a bit older now, so we will look after him for a few days have some time in the pool and work out exactly how we’ll get to the Macca’s Run at Flemington on Cup day”.
BEST IS YET TO COME
Jockey Will Gordon was of the same opinion as ‘Niko’.
“I was pretty happy with that run guys, he left the gates okay and just decided to roll forward and across.
“Asked him for a full effort in the straight and he really let down well, he felt really good at the top of the straight and thought if he could keep this gallop up we would be extremely hard to run down.
“As you know he’s first-up so race fitness probably told a bit, but the horse felt really well and seems to be in great head space and is in for a good prep.”
At this stage owners in the Vic Husslers are due to have a runner at Fabulous Flemington on Melbourne Cup day for the third successive year – that’s a great achievement.
Go you good thing!
“The horse felt really well and seems to be in a great head space and is in for a good prep” Jockey Will Gordon