Melbourne Cup hopefuls Big Orange and Dubday will take different paths as they press their claims for the trip to Australia.
Trainer Michael Bell has identified the Group Two Lonsdale Cup at York’s Ebor meeting on August 21 as the next port of call for Big Orange while Dubday will head to France for the Prix Foy.
A surprise winner of the Princess of Wales’s Stakes at Newmarket, Big Orange proved that was no fluke when he won last week’s Goodwood Cup.
“He’s only done one canter every day since but he appears to have taken it very well,” Bell told At The Races.
“Plan A is the Lonsdale Cup at York, where he escapes a penalty for a Group Two and then, subject to his well-being, he’ll go into quarantine for a trip to Australia.”
Dubday, the champion thoroughbred in Qatar, became the first horse trained by a Qatari national (Jassim Al Ghazali) to win in England when he took out the Group Three Glorious Stakes at Goodwood.
Harry Herbert, racing manager for Al Shaqab Racing, said the Group Two Prix Foy at Longchamp on September 13 was a possibility.
“All plans are fluid at the moment,” Herbert said.
“At the moment we are thinking of taking him over for the Foy, sponsored by Qatar.
“After that we’ll be having a serious think about the Melbourne Cup.
“I’d personally love him to go because he’s a mile-and-a-half (2400m) horse who stays further with a turn of foot. He ticks a lot of the boxes.
“I think he’d be competitive in it and how often are you going to come across a horse with the right credentials.
“So, it’s strongly under consideration but obviously Sheikh Joaan will have the final word.”
