42 NT NEWS. Wednesday, October 23, 2013. www.ntnews.com.au

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Brook Pender aboard the Mark Kavanagh-trained mare Atlantic Jewel during trackwork at Flemington on Sunday Picture: WAYNE LUDBEY

It’s A Dundeel sparklesas Atlantic Jewel fadesHORSERACINGByMIKEHEDGEin Melbourne

Murray Baker

NEW Zealander It’s ADundeel has been handed agolden opportunity to estab-lish himself as Australasia’schampion racehorse by win-ning Saturday’s $3 millionCox Plate (2040m).

Having inherited favourit-ism following the shockscratching of Atlantic Jewelsoon after acceptances yes-terday, It’s A Dundeel willhave few challengers for thetitle if he wins the race re-garded as Australia’s best.

And the confidence oftrainer Murray Baker sug-gests he will.

It’s A Dundeel assumed thetop line of betting at $4 after

Atlantic Jewelwas declared anon-runner atthe end of amorning of dra-ma and intrigueat Moonee Val-

ley. No clue of the injury suf-fered by the champion marewas offered by trainer MarkKavanagh who came to theValley for the Cox Platebarrier draw.

As Kavanagh was produc-ing an Academy Award-winning performance at theValley, fellow Flemingtontrainers Chris Waller andDanny O’Brien made the sur-prise moves of accepting forthe Cox Plate with Foretellerand Shamus Award.

Waller’s decision to pay upcame in a hurried phone call

to stewards only minutes be-fore the acceptance deadlineand less than an hour afterhe declared the horse wouldmiss the race and run in Sat-urday week’s MackinnonStakes (2000m).

Shamus Award, a maidenand the Cox Plate emerg-ency, hadn’t been mentionedamong the possibilities andwould have been given nochance in the race.

But with Atlantic Jewelout, he gets a shot at substan-tial minor prize money.

For Baker, the news of At-lantic Jewel’s defectionwasn’t welcomed, but thepossibility it created was.

It’s A Dundeel is the onlyhorse to have defeated Atlan-tic Jewel, beating her fairand square in the Under-

wood Stakes (1800m) at Caul-field a month ago and shapedas the clear danger to her inSaturday’s race.

After a slight setback twoweeks ago, Baker said It’s ADundeel had made a com-plete recovery from the footabscess that kept him out ofthe Caulfield Stakes.

‘‘We think he’s tightenedup a bit. He looks healthy andwe’re pretty happy withhim,’’ Baker said.

It’s A Dundeel turned inone of the most impressiveperformances of the publicgallops at the Valley yester-day morning, easily gettingthe better of the handy mareLet’s Make Adeal.

For Baker, the Cox Plate isshaping as the making of ahorse whose only rival for

top honours was AtlanticJewel. ‘‘He’s shown how goodhe is. His Derby win in Syd-ney was spectacular,’’ Bakersaid. ‘‘The thing with him isthat he does it all so easily.He’s easy to train, nothingworries him.

‘‘He’s relaxed, he’s gotplenty of speed and hecan stay.’’

One rival trainer who ag-rees with Baker is Gai Water-house who named It’s ADundeel as the danger to herrunner Fiorente, even beforeAtlantic Jewel came out.

‘‘It’s a Dundeel, he’s thehorse to beat,’’ she said.

‘‘He’s a very masculine, bigstrong colt, I’m very im-pressed with the horse.

‘‘Murray’s a lucky man tobe training him.’’

COX PLATE FIELD - SATURDAY

10 - 4.10 Group 1 Sportingbet Cox Plate 2040m (Apprenticescannot claim) 3YO and up (WFA). Prizemoney - $3,000,000; 1st:$1,800,000 and trophies $50,000; 2nd: $440,000; 3rd:$220,000; 4th: $130,000; 5th: $110,000; 6th-8th: $100,000

1 - 4X59 GreenMoon (12) B Prebble 59.0 $172 - 5741 Happy Trails (2) D Dunn 59.0 $123 - X614 Fiorente (15) B Shinn 59.0 $4.404 - 8102 Foreteller (9) C Newitt 59.0 $265 - 4473 Side Glance (1) CWilliams 59.0 $516 - 0091 Seville (10) J Bowman 59.0 $417 - 0X20 Rekindled Interest (6) M Zahra 59.0 $418 - 1272 Puissance De Lune (8) BMelham 59.0 $4.609 - X032MaskedMarvel (5) M Rodd 59.0 $3110 - 1528Mull Of Killough (4) S Arnold 59.0 $3511 - 2X41 It’s A Dundeel (13) J McDonald 57.5 $4.0012 - 3493 Super Cool (14) C Brown 57.5 $2613 - 1121 Atlantic Jewel (7) Scratched 57.014 - 3131 Long John (11) KMcEvoy 49.5 $8.50

Emergency15 - 2723 Shamus Award (3) C Schofield (a) 49.5 $26

Banned Boss angry with HallGLEN Boss shook the handof chief steward TerryBailey after his unsuccess-ful appeal to have a carelessriding ban of 12 meetingsreduced so he could ridePuissance De Lune in theCox Plate at Moonee Valleyon Saturday.

But the champion jockeywas not feeling so generoustowards fellow hoop NickHall who he blamed formuch of the interferencethat occurred in the race be-fore the field passed thewinning post for the first

time in last Saturday’sCaulfield Cup.

Boss told Victoria’s Rac-ing Appeals and Disciplin-ary Board he was angrywith the Cup-winning Hallwho he said did not callwhen Boss shifted in hismount Silent Achiever, un-aware Glencadam Gold wasgoing to end up on the rails.

Boss said he looked as hemoved inside but only be-came aware GlencadamGold was there when hisjockey Tommy Berry calledout, which caused Boss to

take corrective action. Hesaid Hall, riding Fawkner,had a reputation for notcalling as jockeys juggledfor position in races.

In an earlier hearing,Hall was looking to de-crease a 10-meeting ban im-posed on him last Saturdayfor careless riding.

But the board was not im-pressed with his riding re-cord this year which Lewisdescribed as ‘‘appalling’’.

‘‘If not for his record hewould have succeeded (inhis appeal),’’ Lewis said.

HORSERACINGTHE Geelong Cup has been aguide to the chances of theEuropean raiders in the Mel-bourne Cup in recent years butonly one has taken up thechallenge today. ForgottenVoice, who missed a start inlast Saturday’s Caulfield Cupas the first emergency, is thedominant favourite for theGroup 3 2400m race. Mel-bourne Cup winners Dunaden(2011) Americain (2010) andMedia Puzzle (2002) have allticked off the Geelong Cup be-fore going on to bigger riches.Forgotten Voice is looking fora weight penalty from aGeelong Cup win to lift him inthe order of entry for the final24 in theMelbourne Cup.

MICHAEL Rodd will rely on twopick-up rides to achieve Group1 success during the two-dayCox Plate carnival. Rodd’s CoxPlate chances were dealt ablow yesterday with thescratching from Saturday’sCox Plate of short-pricedfavourite Atlantic Jewel. Hepicked up the ride on the LloydWilliams-owned Masked Mar-vel later yesterday after NickHall lost an appeal against asuspension, while in the $1million Manikato Stakes(1200m), Rodd is chasing vic-tory on Bel Sprinter. Rodd pic-ked up the Bel Sprinter ride forFriday night’s Manikato(1200m) after Damien Oliverwas suspended last week.

GAMBLIN’ Guru has the pedi-gree to win a Derby butwhether the spring is too soonwill be determined by his firstdistance test at Geelong to-day. Adelaide trainer LeonMacdonald used the 2200mprovincial feature as the Vic-toria Derby lead-up for RebelRaider, third at Geelong in2008 before springing a 100-1upset at Flemington. Gamblin’Guru is by English Derby win-ner New Approach out of GloryGuru, a half-sister to Gold Guruwho ran fifth at Flemingtonbut shone the followingautumn in Sydney with aweight-for-age victory in theRanvet. Macdonald said thethree-year-old would have topull something out of the boxto prompt his owners to paythe $82,500 late entry fee forthe Victoria Derby (2500m).

Elite matingmay be nextTHE injury that has costAtlantic Jewel her chance inthe Cox Plate means she hasmost likely run her last race.

While trainer Mark Kavan-agh hasn’t ruled out a returnto racing in the autumn,Atlantic Jewel’s owners havea selection of the world’s beststallions waiting to serve amare who is also one of theworld’s best.

Atlantic Jewel is a daugh-ter of the outstanding sireFastnet Rock who, like her, isowned by the Irish-basedCoolmore Stud.

While the breeding seasonhas virtually concluded in thesouthern hemisphere, Cool-more’s Michael Kirwan saidone option for Atlantic Jewelwould be to travel to Irelandand be served to northernhemisphere time next year.

If that is the case her mostlikely mate would be Euro-pe’s leading stallion, Galileo.

The offspring of such a mat-ing would almost certainlynot be seen in Australia be-cause it would be givingaway at least six months ingrowth and maturity to local-ly bred horses.