Time to pick out the lucky dress and dust off your best suit, the road to the first Tuesday in November starts now for Team Captain and the Vic Husslers.
The listed Heatherlie Stakes over 1700m at Caulfield is the starting point chosen by trainer Matt Cumani to qualify Team Captain for the Melbourne Cup itself.
Matt scratched from last week’s 2040m first-up assignment at Moonee Valley once Melbourne was struck by a deluge and the track was downgraded.
Team Captain has had just the one barrier trial leading up to his return and that was a very impressive win where he still showed that great turn of foot which lead him to two wins from three starts since joining the Vic Husslers.
One of the key races for Team Captain is the Group 3 Bart Cummings at Flemington on October 1. It’s over 2500m and is an automatic qualifier for the Cup, win Bart’s race and you can’t be bumped out of the Cup.
Be prepared for some twists and turns along the way, like most horse programs they normally don’t go to schedule, so be flexible and enjoy the ride.