Emissary puts hand up for Melbourne Cup spot

Trainer Mike Moroney is hoping Emissary will gain enough of a rehandicap for the Melbourne Cup to force a start in the great race at Flemington.

Emissary came from second-last in the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) on Wednesday to put his hand up for a start in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) on November 1.

Ridden by in form jockey Blake Shinn, Emissary ($18) stormed home to score by a length from the $4.60 favourite Surefire with Makram ($11) a further 2-¾ lengths away third.

Racing Victoria will announce a rehandicap, if any, on Thursday, and in recent years they have been shy in allocating too big a penalty.

But Moroney, who scored in the Geelong Cup with Vengeur Masque in 2017, countered that argument by suggesting Wednesday’s race was one of the strongest for a number of years.

“He’s come from second-last in a really good field,” Moroney said.

“It’s probably one of the better Geelong Cup fields we’ve seen for a long, long time and I think for that reason the handicapper will recognise that.

“The way he did it. He came from second-last and he took all the bad luck out of the equation.”

Moroney said the stable had been left deflated by Emissary’s last start eighth in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) at Caulfield on October 8.

They later put the poor performance down to Emissary not liking the soft ground.

“We were starting to wonder if he really stayed, but today he showed he certainly does,” Moroney said.

“We wanted him on dry ground, out to the mile-and-a-half and we wondered whether that would do it.

“We’ll head on to the Melbourne Cup now, all going well.”

Moroney said Emissary reminds him of Brew who took out the Melbourne Cup in 2000.

Shinn said it was a great result to land his first win in the Geelong Cup, one of the time-honoured races of the Victorian Spring Carnival.

He said Emissary had run a personal best on Wednesday but questioned whether the 2022 Melbourne Cup may be a bridge too far.

“You’ve got to bear in mind that the distance may be a question mark, but I’ve got no doubt he can be competitive,” Shinn said.

“It’s just whether he can run the distance, but if he can produce that same turn-of-foot over 3200 (metres), he’s got to be a force.”