Wine Dark Sea made every yard of the running to land the Highclere Thoroughbred Racing Geoffrey Freer Stakes at Newbury on Saturday, securing a possible tilt at the Melbourne Cup. The four-year-old gelding's odds tumbled from 13-2 into 7-2 as he powered clear in the home straight to beat Tabletalk by a length and a half, with Dubai Honour a neck further back in third.
Melbourne Cup qualification secured
The victory guaranteed a berth in the Flemington showpiece, with the horse's owners having recently sold a stake to Australian Bloodstock, who have previously owned Melbourne Cup winners. Winning handler Harry Charlton confirmed the Melbourne Cup was the next target, with the horse scheduled to enter quarantine on September 9.
"The intention today was to finish third which would help with the ballot qualification for the Melbourne Cup and he has done more than that," said Charlton. "The Aussies who I'm dealing with were saying finish third and they won't change his handicap mark. It is very different how they do it."
Previous form and setbacks
Wine Dark Sea had earlier stormed to convincing victories in handicaps at Ascot and Carlisle but could only manage fifth when heavily backed at Newmarket's July meeting. Charlton attributed that setback to the demands of a testing finish and the long trip to Carlisle.
"Although he won on the bridle at Carlisle he broke the track record carrying top weight so you can't have an easy race, particularly travelling eight hours in a heatwave. The 10 days later we just saw a slightly flat horse," he said.
Australian connections
Charlton added: "My brother (Tom) trains in Australia and has a Melbourne Cup runner as well. I have a team going down with the horse and you train out of the quarantine barn at Ballarat."
