Melbourne Cup Racing Odds: Mutual Regard Targets Cup
September 5th, 2014 by Pom de TurfJohnny Murtagh rode in a couple of Melbourne Cups when he was a jockey, and he might have the chance to come back to Australia for the 2014 Melbourne Cup, this time as a trainer, and with a decent prospect in the race, too. Mutual Regard, if he makes the trip to Australia, will be a name that you need to be aware of in the Racing odds for the Melbourne Cup, and he’s quite likely to want another race before the Cup, too.
Mutual Regard is a possibility for the Melbourne Cup thanks to an eye-catching win in the Ebor Handicap at York in the UK in August, a run that saw a change in his handicapping, and that saw him come home ahead of fellow Melbourne Cup possibility Van Percy. Murtagh, it seems, had been entertaining thoughts of a trip to Australia anyway, and the win in the Ebor Handicap has brought them a long stride closer to reality: ‘the handicapper has said he has put Mutual Regard up six pounds for winning the Ebor so he is 112 now and hopefully that will be high enough to get us into the Melbourne Cup. We’ll talk to the people from Australia but I think the race will suit him as it’s two miles and usually fast ground. I think fast ground is the key to him and I think he should have a little kick at the end which is what you need to win a Melbourne Cup.’
Once he has landed on Australian soil, of course, Mutual Regard’s work will begin in earnest, and he’ll feature in the Racing odds for not just the Melbourne Cup but for perhaps a couple of other races, too, that will serve as his preparation. Murtagh is keeping his options open: ‘maybe we’ll go to Australia early and get him acclimatised down there. He is in the Champions Day in England so if we don’t go to Melbourne we have that option. He’s not in the Irish St Leger as I hope to have Royal Diamond for that and anyway, I don’t think running him at the Curragh over 1m6f on soft ground would do him any good at all. It’s a long way to go, but there are plenty of races down there that he can run in before the Melbourne Cup or after if he doesn’t get in.’
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