Melbourne Cup favourite Septimus is set to make the trip to Australia after officials on Tuesday granted permission to pre-quarantine the horse in the UK before travelling.Leading trainer Aidan O'Brien was anxiously awaiting the green light from Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) to enable him to use his Ballydoyle Stables to meet quarantine requirements.Racing Victoria said on Tuesday that Ballydoyle and Clunemore Lodge, which is the stable of two-time Melbourne Cup winning tra
Melbourne Cup favourite Septimus is set to make the trip to Australia after officials on Tuesday granted permission to pre-quarantine the horse in the UK before travelling.
Leading trainer Aidan O'Brien was anxiously awaiting the green light from Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) to enable him to use his Ballydoyle Stables to meet quarantine requirements.
Racing Victoria said on Tuesday that Ballydoyle and Clunemore Lodge, which is the stable of two-time Melbourne Cup winning trainer Dermot Weld, could both be used as quarantine facilities.
The approval paves the way for Septimus and stablemates Honolulu and Alessandro Volta.
Weld is preparing mare Profound Beauty towards the Cup.
Septimus was installed the $6.50 favourite for the Melbourne Cup with TAB Sportsbet after he beat stablemate New Zealand by 13 lengths in the Group One Irish St Leger at the Curragh at the weekend.
Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter questioned the quality of the opposition in the St Leger and decided not to penalise Septimus who has 58.5kg in the Cup.
But Carpenter did consider Honolulu's victory in the Group Two Doncaster Cup worthy of a penalty and gave him a kilo to take his weight to 54.5kg.
"Honolulu was a dominant winner of the Doncaster Cup, one of England's feature staying races, and his new weight of 54.5kg recognises he has continued to improve from his three-year-old form of 2007," Carpenter said.
As a three-year-old Honolulu finished second to last year's Melbourne Cup runner-up Purple Moon in the Ebor Handicap and third to Lucarno in the English St Leger.
Vintage Crop is the only horse to complete the Irish St Leger-Melbourne Cup double which he achieved in 1993.
Vinnie Roe went close when he finished second to Makybe Diva in the 2004 Cup.