Craig Williams came to Werribee on Wednesday morning looking for signs of change in the reigning Melbourne Cup champion Dunaden.
What he found was a horse in the exact same condition as he was before he rode him to victory in the Caulfield Cup and better than when he won last year’s Melbourne Cup.
Dunaden returning to scale after the 2011 Melbourne Cup - photo by Race Horse Photos Australia
The same weight, the same deep chest, same rump the shape of a ripe apple, the same clear eye.
“But he was different,” Williams said after he’d galloped the horse he expects to fill the only gap in his big-race CV.
“He knew he’d had a win.
“We walked for a lap and had a trot and he felt the same as he was before the Caulfield Cup.
“But when I shortened the stirrups before we galloped, he changed.
“He knew he’d had a win, it was as though he knew he’d done something special.
“As soon as I pulled the irons up he knew what to do, he wanted to go.
“It took me two furlongs (400m) to get him back underneath me.”
Williams and Dunaden moved off at a steady canter from the 1600m mark for the horse’s last piece of serious work before the Melbourne Cup 2012.
After 400 metres the jockey eased his weight forward over the horse’s neck and let him run.
“That’s as close as you get to flying on a horse,” Williams said.
“It’s smooth, it’s like his feet don’t touch the ground.”
Dunaden completed his work in respectable time, but more importantly, with the same keenness shown in every piece of work that has accompanied his three unbeaten runs in Australia.
“I was really delighted with the way he felt, the way he extended, the way he recovered,” Williams said.
“Everything”.
To Mikel Delzangles, a man tipped to become the champion trainer of France within three years, Dunaden is in perfect order.
“He can’t be better,” Delzangles said.
“Already he was better than last year before he ran in the Caulfield Cup.
“Maybe before his last run he was fresher, but he’s definitely ready for Tuesday.”
The only concern Williams and Delzangles have with the horse is the 59kg he has to carry over the 3200m of the Cup, 4.5kg more than he carried last year.
But even that is becoming a trivial consideration in the minds of his jockey and trainer.
“I don’t believe the weight can stop him,” Williams said.
Delzangles agreed.
“He is better than he was last year, he needs to be and I think he is.”
