Guard faces Cup workout

A piece of work on Thursday will determine whether Changingoftheguard is prepared for the Emirates Melbourne Cup.

The colt won the Ulster Derby for Aidan O’Brien before finishing second in the Ebor and sixth in the St Leger.

Now with top Australian trainer David Hayes, he is to have a gallop at Sandown racecourse with Bankable and Mourilyan, who both ran for Gary Moore in Britain over the summer but are now with South African Herman Brown.

“They will go a mile and come home the last three (furlongs),” Hayes told www.racingvictoria.net.au

“That will decide whether we step up his preparation for the Melbourne Cup, concentrate on the Mackinnon, or send him for a spell.”

Luca Cumani’s Cima De Triomphe, a huge disappointment in last weekend’s Caulfield Cup, was back out on the track with connections still unable to offer an explanation.

It is possible he too will run in the Mackinnon Stakes, three days before the Melbourne Cup.