2024 Melbourne Cup start hinges on Bendigo performance

UK raider galloper Sea King will be racing for a start in the Melbourne Cup when he heads to Bendigo for his first Australian start.

Sea King has been at the Werribee International Horse Centre preparing for a tilt at the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 5, but still needs to qualify for the race.

A top three finish in the Group 3 Bendigo Cup (2400m) on Wednesday will tick that box for the Harry Eustace-trained stayer.

“From what I understand, if he finishes in the first three, he then ticks the qualifications for the Cup and then we’ll have to see whether we get in, or not,” Eustace said.

“If he happened to get a run, that would be fantastic and would be a quick repayment for the owners that bought him.

“Otherwise, if he doesn’t get a run, he will run in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington the following Saturday.”

Eustace arrived in Melbourne last week to put the finishing touches on Docklands ahead of his fifth-place finish in the Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley last Saturday.

He has been impressed with the way Sea King has been moving since he arrived in Melbourne.

“He seems to have settled in well in quarantine and by all accounts he seems to have thrived out in the environment,” Eustace said.

A fellow inmate in quarantine at Werribbe is Onesmoothoperator who won his way into the Melbourne Cup with victory in the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) last week.

Onesmoothoperator and Sea King finished alongside each other in the UK’s biggest handicap, the Ebor at York in August.

Eustace said he took a lot of heart out of the win of Onesmoothoperator at Geelong.

“Onesmoothoperator is a horse that travels and has a turn of foot and possibly is a more honest galloper,” Eustace said.

“Seeing him run so well in the Geelong Cup was great to see and if we ran to a similar sort of form from the Ebor, you would love to think that we could be quite competitive.

“He really does look fantastic. He’s had half-a-clip, because it’s heady towards our winter at home, but he looks healthy in his skin and has trained well, so we’re looking forward to seeing him run.”

Eustace said Docklands had come through his Cox Plate run in good style, saying it was an incredible race to watch and be a part of.

He said the lack on a run between York in August and Saturday may have cost Docklands finishing in third place behind Via Sistina.

“There were no hiding places, and I think if we had had a run leading into the race, he probably would have held on to run third as he looked to get tired in the last 150 metres,” Eustace said.

“If he was competitive in the Cox Plate, the plan was to head to Champions Day and at the moment that remains the plan.”

Eustace said Dockland would be entered for the Champions Mile (1600m) and Champions Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on November 9 with a decision on which race they tackle made next week.