Melbourne Cup runner-up Maluckyday is set to make a delayed start to his spring carnival in the Memsie Stakes at Caulfield.
Wayne Hawkes of Team Hawkes said the five-year-old would be an acceptor on Wednesday for Saturday’s Group Two 1400-metre weight-for-age event.
“He’s not guaranteed to run but it is likely that he will,” Hawkes said.
Maluckyday was scratched from his scheduled first-up run in last Saturday’s Warwick Stakes when the track came up heavy but the Melbourne weather forecast is mainly clear.
The Zabeel gelding hasn’t raced since he was unplaced at his only three runs in the autumn.
He finished fourth in both the Group One Chipping Norton Stakes and the Ranvet Stakes and was seventh in The BMW.
The form may look disappointing but it isn’t a concern for Team Hawkes.
“It doesn’t worry me in the least,” Wayne Hawkes said.
He said Maluckyday got too far back in his autumn races and the runs were better than they may appear.
“The way those races are run you have got to be up on the pace otherwise you can’t win,” Hawkes said.
“He ran the second fastest last 400 (metres) in the BMW when he ran seventh, but no-one sees that.
“Missing the run the other day stuffed things up a little bit but we didn’t want to gut him first-up on a bog track.
“The horse is fine and we will wait now and see what the track conditions are for Saturday.”
Maluckyday, who has won five of his 12 starts, is best remembered for his second to Americain in last year’s Melbourne Cup.
TAB Sportsbet has him one of the favourites for the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups at $15 for both races while he is at $35 for the Cox Plate.
Hawkes said Maluckyday would leave Sydney on Thursday night once he was a confirmed runner in the Memsie.
AAP TURF
