Terry O’Sullivan feels Magnapal didn’t disgrace himself in the Caulfield Cup, a race he nominated him for as a pipedream.
The six-year-old was second until the 800m mark and fourth at the turn before ending up 14th, against a host of Melbourne Cup contenders.
“Maybe we used a little bit too much energy early but we thought it was no point dropping out early so we always intended to go forward,” O’Sullivan told AAP.
Unfortunately the forecast possible 5mm of rain didn’t eventuate on Saturday morning to take that “little bit more sting” out of the ground the horse loves.
“We’re still pretty happy to have a runner in the Cup and we thought he didn’t disgrace himself,” O’Sullivan said.
“We thought he ran hard and tried his best.”
While he took Dolphin Jo to fifth place in the 2007 Melbourne Cup, Magnapal was O’Sullivan’s second Caulfield Cup runner in 43 years as a trainer.
“It’s a bit of a sense of achievement just having a horse good enough to get in the field, so we were really rapt to have a runner.”
O’Sullivan, who trains in partnership with daughter Karina in Stawell in country Victoria, says the gelding will have a few days in the paddock before they decide on his next run.
“Whether we come back and try another race at the end of the spring, I’m not sure. We’ll give it a bit of a thought.”
The Group Three Queen’s Cup (2600m) at Flemington on November 7 or the Zipping Classic at Sandown a week later are possibilities.
In the meantime the father/daughter training team have three-year-old Patch Adams in the Carbine Club Stakes on Derby day.
“I think he’s a very promising horse. He’s just got to learn to relax a little bit in his races, drop his head and go to sleep,” O’Sullivan said.
“We’ve got a couple of other horses there that we think go pretty good so hopefully one of them will step up.”
He may even consider targeting Magnapal at another Caulfield Cup next year.
“You never know, all things going well, and maybe we’ll get a little bit of rain.”
