Three years after the death of Anthony Van Dyck, his trainer finally has a horse back in Australia

Three years after the death of Anthony Van Dyck in the 2020 Melbourne Cup, his trainer Aidan O’Brien is back with his eyes set on the Cox Plate.

Victoria Road, formerly owned by Coolmore but purchased by Melbourne businessman Ozzie Kheir in September to stay in Melbourne after this year’s carnival, will fly the flag for O’Brien on Saturday, who is aiming to win his first Cox Plate since the 2014 triumph of Adelaide.

Purchased by Kheir in late September, Victoria Road will join Ciaron Maher and David Eustace’s stable once this campaign is over.

Stringent vetting requirements were enforced on spring competitors following Anthony Van Dyck’s death, which had been preceded two years earlier by the death of another O’Brien-trained galloper – The Cliffsofmoher – in the Cup.

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One of those 41 new safety measures was a mandatory scintigraphy scan, adopted with the aim of better screening imports which were likely to be susceptible to a catastrophic injury, but described by O’Brien in 2021 as impossible to overcome.

“It’s a nuclear scan they’ve brought in where you have to inject dye into their system, and they have to stay in a closed box for four days for this nuclear thing to work,” O’Brien told Dubai Racing TV in June 2021.

“Really it’s probably impossible for us to go with horses if that is one of the new things this year. Maybe that will change.”

He doubled down on his comments later that year, saying he wouldn’t consider jumping through all the hoops Racing Victoria had adopted, which have kept the past two runnings of the Melbourne Cup fatality-free.

But with Racing Victoria easing of the mandatory component of the scintigraphy ahead of this year’s carnival, O’Brien is sending horses again, although he will not have a Cup runner this year. His previous runners in Melbourne, apart from Anthony Van Dyck, have included 2020 Cup runner-up Tiger Moth and 2020 Cox Plate runner-up Armory.

Travelling foreman, TJ Comerford, believes there are similarities between Victoria Road and 2014 Plate winner Adelaide.

“Adelaide was running in Arc trials at home, and we brought him here knowing he was a decent horse,” Comerford said at Werribee on Thursday.

“But this lad is a Breeders’ Cup winner, you know what I mean? On paper, it’s definitely better. He won a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, so any horse you who’s won a Breeders’ Cup race, you have to respect them anyway.

“His season this year has been a bit of a lull, but at the moment, he’s very pleasing.”

Asked how Victoria Road coped with the vetting requirements, Comerford said: “It’s all panned out good.

“He’s had his scans; he had his scans before he came here, he had his scans when he got here. He’s good, there’s no issue with him. He’s healthy and working well and everything is going right with him.”

The northern hemisphere-bred three-year-old won his last four races in 2022 to finish the European season on a high, culminating with his Breeders’ Cup win. But he did not race from November to August due to setbacks. Jockey Blake Shinn has picked up the ride.

“It all seems to be working out now, timing seems to be perfect,” Comerford said.

“He was fit coming here. I suppose when we got here we just let him settle in and get used to the track, going around because he wouldn’t be used to this at home, but it doesn’t take long for them to get the hang of it. It’s been straightforward for him.

“We travel our horses plenty, probably more than most. He’s gone across to France, and he’s travelled plenty in Ireland. We’re happy with our lad, he’s doing everything right and I probably wouldn’t swap him for anything.”

The Cox Plate favourite is not fully fit. His trainer blames quarantine

The trainer of the Cox Plate favourite says his horse will not be fully fit for the race on Saturday, putting some of the blame on facilities at Werribee where internationals are required to quarantine.

Hong Kong superstar Romantic Warrior is only 90-95 per cent fit, according to trainer Danny Shum.

“I can’t say I’m happy, but this is the only facilities I can use,” Shum said.

“In Hong Kong we have a swimming pool, we have a walking machine, we’ve got barrier trials with local Hong Kong horses,” he said.

“But at least a swimming pool and a walking machine, if they could [have] provided that, it would have been great.

“I think he’d be better [if we had those options]. We can only hand walk for 30 minutes before we put the saddle on, [whereas] we could have had a walking machine for 15 minutes, that would have been a better warm-up for him.

“We’ve done the best [we can], hopefully God does the rest.”

Shum was candid leading into the Turnbull Stakes that Romantic Warrior was only 80-85 per cent fit heading into that race, having also dealt with issues regarding his feed. He finished fourth behind Gold Trip in the Turnbull Stakes as a short-priced favourite.

Two track gallops at Moonee Valley and one at Werribee under James McDonald have pleased Shum, but he said the Cox Plate favourite was still a touch shy of 100 per cent fit.

“I give him 90-95 per cent fit,” Shum said. “He hadn’t raced for four-and-a-half months before the Turnbull Stakes.

“Every day he’s better. He’s eating well, galloping good, especially his three gallops – two at Moonee Valley and one at Werribee with James McDonald on board. He’s happy, he handled the Moonee Valley sharp turn smoothly. Everything is good.”

Racing Victoria defended Werribee, which provided quarantine for the 2021 Cox Plate winner State Of Rest and last week’s Caulfield Cup runner-up West Wind Blows, among others.

“The Werribee Racing Club have done an excellent job providing two training tracks in great condition for our visiting international horses,” a Racing Victoria spokesperson said.

“We have seen the visiting international horses perform well out of the facility already this spring racing carnival, and we look forward to that continuing this weekend and beyond.

“Any additional facilities would need to be replicated across three quarantine yards. That’s a significant investment that would be hard to justify at this time given local industry needs.”

Racing Victoria has already purchased a large parcel of land near Oaklands Junction which is touted as the future gateway to the carnival for the international horses. The cost of a new fully filtered equine swimming pool sits between $1.5 million and $2 million.

Romantic Warrior drew barrier seven in a field of 12 for Saturday’s Cox Plate, and Shum said he was confident the horse could still win the race.

“If we can settle, get some cover, he will hit the line strong,” Shum said.

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“We’ve handled the sharp turn. He’s got a big chance to win the Cox Plate, yes.

“I think he should be the favourite. According to his form, he should be the favourite, yes.”

Chris Waller brought Fangirl (barrier nine) and Militarize (barrier three) to the Valley’s Breakfast with the Stars on Tuesday for a look around the track, with neither horse there to break records.

Alligator Blood (barrier five) also zipped around the circuit, while Damien Oliver had his first sit on Duais (barrier one) ahead of his final time riding in a Cox Plate.

Mr Brightside drew barrier two for Lindsay Park, which pleased co-trainer Ben Hayes.

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“We wanted him to draw an inside draw. Lucky enough drew outside early, and we were able to draw barrier two,” Hayes said.

“It’s the same barrier he won the All-Star Mile from. He’s got a great record at the Valley.

“One of the question marks is people asking whether he runs 2000 metres. I think barrier two gives him the option to do that. He should have a nice soft run and all I can say, the horse is in fantastic order, his work this morning at the farm was excellent, and he’s got a real chance.

“The stable is very confident.”

Gold Trip has drawn barrier eight, while Aidan O’Brien’s Victoria Road will jump from gate six. Annabel Neasham will saddle up Zaaki (barrier 12) and My Oberon (barrier four), with Jamie Mott picking up the late ride on My Oberon after Johnny Allen copped a suspension at Warrnambool on Monday.

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