With all eyes on Dunaden yesterday as he breezed through a canter to top off his Cup preparation, trainer Mikel Delzangles was keen to downplay the hype around his horse and dismissed any comparisons to Americain, reports The Age/SMH. It says: ''The horse is perfect but I wouldn't say that he has improved here like Americain has, but we are very well and he has done well since Geelong. It is hard to compare Americain in Europe to Americain in Australia, he's a totally different horse here so it
With all eyes on Dunaden yesterday as he breezed through a canter to top off his Cup preparation, trainer Mikel Delzangles was keen to downplay the hype around his horse and dismissed any comparisons to Americain, reports The Age/SMH.
It says: ''The horse is perfect but I wouldn't say that he has improved here like Americain has, but we are very well and he has done well since Geelong. It is hard to compare Americain in Europe to Americain in Australia, he's a totally different horse here so it is hard to compare him to Dunaden,'' he said.
Delzangles began to think about the Melbourne Cup last year after watching his former boss de Royer Dupre win the race, but he had to wait until May this year before confirming plans to bring Dunaden to Australia.
''I had my eye on him as a chance and he raced very well early in the season in France and when his form was good through to June we thought that it would be a good idea to come,'' Delzangles said. ''It's maybe the biggest race in the world and definitely the most popular race in the world, so it would be very special for me to win with my first runner.''
Delzangles labelled Americain and Jukebox Jury as the hardest horses to beat, but said that the more pressing obstacle was the suspension of jockey Craig Williams, who will take his appeal against a careless riding charge to VCAT this morning.