King’s horse forced to wait for Melbourne Cup golden ticket bid as patrons evacuated in Geelong

9 hours ago 1

King Charles’ Melbourne Cup hopeful Gilded Water will return to contest the re-scheduled Geelong Cup on Thursday after Wednesday’s race meeting was abandoned due to strong winds that forced racegoers out of trackside marquees due to safety concerns.

Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Ciaron Maher said his preference remained to run the race favourite at Geelong in an attempt to win a golden ticket into the two-mile handicap, despite him also being entered in the Moonee Valley Cup.

King Charles’ racing manager John Warren and Ciaron Maher.

“I wanted to run at Geelong Cup. The weights are slightly better,” Maher explained.

“I had accepted at Moonee Valley because of the uncertainty of the weather, so I think I will still run at Geelong.”

Gilded Water sits 42nd on the order of entry but is considered a chance of running well in the Melbourne Cup if he gets a run.

Racegoers have had to evacuate marquees due to wild winds during Geelong Cup Day.

The decision to postpone Wednesday’s Geelong Cup meeting was made after just three races, when jockeys expressed concerns about riding in the windy conditions. The stewards said they took advice from emergency services – which predicted wind gusts of up to 65 kilometres per hour between 3pm and 5pm – before calling the meeting off.

Patrons had already been asked to vacate marquees, with racegoers spilling out on to the lawns as the wind picked up amid fears the marquees might be damaged.

It is the first time the Geelong Cup has not been run since 1953, when constant rain the night before the race led to the meeting being called off.

Racing Victoria’s head of racing, Paul Bloodworth, said the remaining six races would be run on Thursday, with the first race starting at 2.25pm, and they would be run in the same race order.

Entry to the races will also be free, although crowds will be down with Wednesday a public holiday in Geelong. Consideration was given to moving three races to Ballarat on Friday but Geelong Race Club wanted to finish the meeting on Thursday with sponsorship deals a consideration.

“The race club was keen to run the remaining races here. This is a Ladbrokes track. Ballarat is a Sportsbet track so they were keen to give their sponsors an opportunity to get something out of the day tomorrow,” Bloodworth said.

As well as the Geelong Cup – which has proved a strong lead-in race to the Melbourne Cup – Victoria Derby lead-up race, the Geelong Classic, will also be run on Thursday.

With a separate meeting to be held in Mornington, there will be several jockey changes required as some hoops are already booked to ride at the Mornington meeting.

Torranzino trainer Paul Preusker was relaxed as he waited for the decision on when to reschedule the Geelong Cup. “We just have to deal with it. Everyone has to do the same thing,” Preusker said.

Meanwhile, the Gai Waterhouse-Adrian Bott trained Sir Delius has been spelled after vets ruled him out of the Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup, for which he was favourite, when scans showed he was at “a heightened risk of injury” if he ran in those races.

Craig Williams rides Sir Delius to a Turnbull Stakes win at Flemington earlier this month.

Melbourne Cup runners are required to undergo compulsory Computed Tomography (CT) scans of distal limbs as part of protocols introduced to reduce the risk of injury after six horses died in the Melbourne Cup between 2013 and 2020.

Waterhouse Racing said on social media they would now set their sights on the autumn carnival with the group 1-winning five-year-old.

“He’s an extremely valuable horse and one we firmly believe will continue to prove he’s the best weight for age performer in Australia,” they said in a statement.

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