YET another French galloper is poised to grab the spring carnival headlines after Brigantin was sensationally backed over the weekend to win the Geelong Cup on Wednesday, reports The Age.It says: The French have won the past two Melbourne Cups, the past two Geelong Cups and the most recent Caulfield Cup, and bookmakers were already lamenting yesterday that another Geelong Cup is going the same way, after the $6.50 offered initially for Brigantin was crunched into $3.90 last night.Geoffrey Faber,

YET another French galloper is poised to grab the spring carnival headlines after Brigantin was sensationally backed over the weekend to win the Geelong Cup on Wednesday, reports The Age.

It says: The French have won the past two Melbourne Cups, the past two Geelong Cups and the most recent Caulfield Cup, and bookmakers were already lamenting yesterday that another Geelong Cup is going the same way, after the $6.50 offered initially for Brigantin was crunched into $3.90 last night.

Geoffrey Faber, representing Dunaden's owner, added more fuel to the fire yesterday when he declared Brigantin was the horse that Dunaden had to beat if he was to win a second Melbourne Cup.

''As it stands, we have to give him 5 kilograms and even more if we get a penalty in the Melbourne Cup, so he's the horse to beat,'' Faber said. ''He looks magnificent and he's the horse we're worried about.''

But if Brigantin, who is trained by Andre Fabre, is to win at Geelong and subsequently challenge for Melbourne Cup favouritism, he will do so with a most unlikely rider. Italian Umberto Rispoli, 24, has been booked for the mount in both races.

Rispoli, who returns to Hong Kong for a second three-month stint in December after notching a handful of wins there earlier this year, was Italy's champion rider for the 2009 and 2010 seasons.

Rispoli has been compared to Italy's Frankie Dettori and indeed has the credentials to become a big player on the world stage. Rispoli last season broke the Italian record of 229 winners in a season previously held by Dettori's father, Gianfranco.

Rispoli, who won Hong Kong's group 1 Queen Elizabeth Cup in April aboard Japanese galloper Rulership, was offered the mount on Brigantin after Mickael Barzalona could not commit to taking the mount at Geelong.