Godolphin are set to be represented by no fewer than five horses in Tuesday's G1 Emirates Melbourne Cup following a stirring victory by the Charlie Appleby-trained Oceanographer (GB) (Sea the Stars {Ire}) in Saturday's G3 Lexus S. (2500m) at Flemington.
A 4-year-old on Northern Hemisphere time, Oceanographer was the $2.70 (17-10) favorite largely on the strength of his Australian debut, in which he ran on nicely to finish third, beaten just under a length, by stablemate and Melbourne Cup-bound Qewy (Ire) (Street Cry {Ire}) in the G3 Geelong Cup (2400m) Oct. 19.
Switched off with just one behind early on, Oceanographer was quietly ridden into the final half-mile, but had a wall of horses to deal with entering the straight. Peeled out very wide by Kerrin McEvoy with 400 metres to travel, the task looked too tall, as Tom Melbourne (Ire) (Dylan Thomas {Ire}) enjoyed a soft time of in on top, but the front-runner grew leg-weary inside the final eighth of a mile and Oceanographer flew home his final 400m in :22.45 to punch his ticket into the 'race that stops a nation' just 72 hours down the road. He was immediately penalised 1kg and will carry 52 kg (114 pounds) in the Cup, for which he was cut to $6 (5-1) second favorite behind fellow Godolphin runner, the John O'Shea-conditioned Hartnell (GB) (Authorized {Ire}).
''He stays well, handled Flemington then he handled the hill [at Geelong] the other day, so with a light weight [in the Melbourne Cup] he can run well,” McEvoy told Racing.com.
With McEvoy booked to ride G3 Bart Cummings S. winner Almandin (Ger) (Monsun {Ger}), Chad Schofield will pick up the Cup mount on Oceanographer.
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