Vinnie presents Weld with weighty problem
Vinnie Roe, the 9-2 favourite for Australia’s biggest race at Flemington, has forced Weld to change training plans to get him into the right shape to tackle the 3,200 meter (two mile) race.
“Vinnie Roe has taken a bit of stress from the trip ... it has probably left its mark on him,” said Weld, who arrived here on Thursday. “I was a bit disappointed when I saw him yesterday.”
As the horse has not yet recovered from the flight, Weld opted to shelve plans to take the horse to Flemington to see the track yesterday.
The trainer, who won the 1993 Melbourne Cup with Vintage Crop, expressed his concerns after Vinnie Roe completed a workout at the international training base at nearby Sandown. Weld’s main concern is that in the four weeks he has been in Melbourne, Vinnie Roe has failed to regain the weight he lost on the 30-hour trip.
Taking into account the horse’s general fitness and the 59 kilograms (116 pounds) he has to carry in Tuesday’s four million dollar (2.25 million USD) race, Weld said he was far from confident of victory.
“It’s going to be a very tough call for Vinnie to win,” he said. “I’m nursing Vinnie Roe into his race,” Weld said. “We will hasten quietly.”
Weld rates Vinnie Roe as the best stayer he has trained since Vintage Crop, who enjoys legendary status in Ireland.“He (Vinnie Roe) is an amazing horse .... that’s why he’s won so many Group One races.”
Behind Vinnie Roe in the pre post betting are Beekeeper, Media Puzzle and Pugin at 6-1. Weld tapped the Godolphin runner Pugin as the hardest to beat along with the 33-1 chance Daliapour, who is from the stable of Michael Stoute. “Daliapour is unbelievably good value,” Weld said. “He was second in an Epsom Derby and he’s trained by a man like Michael Stoute.”
When informed of Weld’s high opinion of his horse, Stoute also drew a comparison with Vintage Crop, suggesting Weld might be speaking with one eye trained on the bookies’ boards. “I know him well and there’s nobody shrewder and you Australians know it too,” Stoute said.
Stoute, who also arrived in Melbourne Thursday, was to give Daliapour his final Cup gallop Sunday. Meanwhile, jockey Damien Oliver was to ride in Saturday’s Victoria Derby and the Melbourne Cup ahead of his brother Jason’s funeral in Perth Wednesday.
Jason Oliver died Tuesday from injuries suffered in a fall during a barrier trial at Perth’s Belmont Park track on Monday. He went over the front of unraced two-year-old Savage Cabbage when the horse broke a bone in its foreleg during a 400 metre trial.
Damien Oliver’s racing manager Bruce Clark said the champion jockey would honour his commitments over the first two days of the spring carnival, but his plans after that were uncertain.
Oliver was to mount third favourite Davidoff in the Victoria Derby, and international runner Media Puzzle, stablemate of Vinnie Roe, in the Melbourne Cup.
