International raider Stratum Albion has flown under the radar of many ahead of Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup but the stable are bullish on his chances.
Dave Casey who is the traveling foreman for the Willie Mullins stable has been delighted with how the horse has worked since arriving in Australia with the horse given the task of winning the Melbourne Cup first-up on Tuesday where he is $34 with Sportsbet.
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“We’ve been delighted with him, very good. He did his last work yesterday – delighted with him. He’s got a decent enough draw so hoping for a bit of luck with him on Tuesday.
“I think in the last week he’s come on plenty. Barrier nine is good, gives us options and there’s a couple of fancied horses around him. Anthony Van Dyck isn’t far away, so is Surprise Baby, that’ll give us options to go forward or go back.
“Anthony Van Dyck deserves to be favourite – English Derby winner and he ran so well in the Caulfield Cup. The likes of Prince Of Arran, brilliant form here. His (Stratum Albion) form doesn’t stand out for a lot of it – mixing with jumping as well. We don’t mind being the underdog.
“He’s a horse that can get quite stuffy and takes a lot of work but he’s enjoying it out there. Very happy with his work out there.
Asked what it would mean to win a Melbourne Cup on Sunday morning, Casey said it would be unbelievable after the stable has gone close in recent years.
“It’d be unbelievable. Obviously Willie has gone very close in the past. It’d be amazing to win the race and to be associated with Willie doing that would be brilliant. Hopefully we might do it on Tuesday and if we don’t we’ll keep trying.”
