Mikel Delzangles has had six weeks to take in winning the Melbourne Cup with Dunaden and nothing has really changed for the quietly spoken Frenchman, reports The Age. It says: ''There were a lot of questions about it back in France,'' he said. ''It is not a national event like it is Australia but racing people want to know about it. The day, the race, is it as crazy as they say it is? You just have to tell them you have to go to it and experience it because there is nothing like it in France or
Mikel Delzangles has had six weeks to take in winning the Melbourne Cup with Dunaden and nothing has really changed for the quietly spoken Frenchman, reports The Age.
It says: ''There were a lot of questions about it back in France,'' he said. ''It is not a national event like it is Australia but racing people want to know about it. The day, the race, is it as crazy as they say it is? You just have to tell them you have to go to it and experience it because there is nothing like it in France or Europe. The only thing that might come close is the football World Cup.''
Dunaden will have his first start since his narrow decision over Red Cadeaux, a rival again on Sunday, on the first Tuesday in November in the Hong Kong International Vase at Sha Tin. A stop-off on the way home to start life as a Melbourne Cup winner.
''He went to Australia as a horse we thought was very good and has come away a horse everyone knows,'' Delzangles said. ''That's the difference. These are the sort of races he will be running in [from now on] and it will give us an idea of how he will go.''
Dunaden's owner Sheikh Fahad al-Thani, a Qatari prince, played down his prized galloper's chances in Hong Kong.