{"id":344394,"date":"2023-11-06T01:37:05","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T02:37:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=344394"},"modified":"2023-11-06T03:01:08","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T03:01:08","slug":"rivals-gushing-over-as-good-a-thing-as-ive-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=344394","title":{"rendered":"Rivals gushing over 'as good a thing as I've seen'"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the hype is to be believed, the Melbourne Cup<\/a> may as well be handed to Vauban right now and the 2023 race scrapped to save punters and rival connections the bother.<\/p>\n

\ufeffThe European superstar is the talk of the town despite never racing in Australia before, and even trainers of other Cup contenders have been wowed by the Willie Mullins gelding.<\/p>\n

Whispers from eagle-eyed trackwork watchers at Flemington<\/a> suggest Vauban is one of the classiest runners to ever travel Down Under for a shot at the $8 million race that stops a nation.<\/p>\n

FORM GUIDE:<\/strong> Expert's comprehensive analysis on 2023 Melbourne Cup runners\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

ANALYSIS:<\/strong> How every Cup contender can beat 'sight to behold' Vauban\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ULTIMATE GUIDE:<\/strong> Everything to know about the 2023 Melbourne spring carnival\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeff"I think it's as good a thing as I've seen in the Melbourne Cup, that I can remember," prominent owner Nick Williams – who has Serpentine and Cleveland in this year's race – said of Vauban at the weekend.<\/p>\n

\"Vauban<\/p>\n

"This is a tough, older horse. This is a properly seasoned, beautifully conditioned horse."<\/p>\n

Williams knows a thing or two about Melbourne Cup-winning horses, with his famous father Lloyd having claimed the trophy seven times to date.<\/p>\n

Vauban set tongues wagging with a dominant 7.5-length victory at Royal Ascot in June (watch in the video player at the top of the page<\/strong><\/em>), and backed that up by winning a Group 3 in Ireland in August.<\/p>\n

While he's lightly raced compared to some of his Melbourne Cup rivals, his trackwork runs since arriving in Australia\ufeff have created plenty of buzz.<\/p>\n

Top Australian trainer Ciaron Maher – who along with co-trainer David Eustace has five\ufeff runners contesting the 2023 Cup – couldn't have been more impressed after watching Vauban work out over the weekend.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI was out there (on Saturday)… both horses (Vauban and stablemate Absurde) looked in great order and nearly every horse in Willie's stable would be two-milers," Maher said.<\/p>\n

"They're very good at it. He'll definitely make his presence felt."<\/p>\n

Champion Irish horseman Mullins has been rather luckless in Melbourne's feature event to date, although Max Dynamite ran a place both in 2015 and 2017.<\/p>\n

\"Vauban<\/p>\n

But he reckons the 2023 favourite is streets ahead of any other contender he's brought to Australia.<\/p>\n

"He's the best chance we've ever had and will ever have," Mullins said of Vauban.<\/p>\n

"Everything has gone right… The quarantine has gone right, the draw's gone right.<\/p>\n

"We just need to break (jump) now and get into a position, but I'll leave that to the jockeys. They know the track and opposition better than I do."<\/p>\n

Vauban was crunched to as short as $3.30 with bookmakers on Sunday after drawing barrier three, but on Monday was drifting in the markets \ufeffas punters rushed to get on Caulfield Cup winner Without A Fight.<\/p>\n

Favourites don't historically have it easy in the Cup. Only one favourite since Makybe Diva's 2005 run has actually won the race – Fiorente was the last in 2013, paying $7.<\/p>\n

\ufeffBut the weight of expectation on Vauban doesn't match the weight on his back, with his 55kg significantly less than top rivals Gold Trip (58.5kg) and Without A Fight (56.5kg).<\/p>\n

\"Oliver<\/p>\n

Two-time Melbourne Cup winning syndicator Jamie Lovett certainly can't find fault with Vauban's chances, though.<\/p>\n

"He is a high-quality horse, has a world-class trainer that has targeted the race and he gets (jockey) Ryan Moore. There's not a lot to really pot him on," Lovett – who has \ufeffGold Trip, Lastotchka, and Ashrun in the race – said of Vauban.<\/p>\n

While the majority of horse racing experts like the look of Vauban, there is one man who is far less impressed.<\/p>\n

Australian Bloodstock co-founder Luke Murrell told News Corp the price for Vauban is well under what it should be.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"If we look at his Ascot win, he should be in the $11 to $15 range," Murrell told The Australian.<\/p>\n

"Visually it looked good, but there was no real rating of the race at all. He was eased down but if something had gone with him, I don't think he had another two lengths up his sleeve.<\/p>\n

"His sectional (time) that day was very much slower than anything else. On his Royal Ascot run, you couldn't buy him to win a Gosford Cup."\ufeff<\/p>\n

Only time will tell if Vauban's short price is justified in Australia's great race.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the hype is to be believed, the Melbourne Cup may as well be handed to Vauban right now and the 2023 race scrapped to […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":343780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=344394"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344398,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344394\/revisions\/344398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/343780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=344394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=344394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=344394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}