Watch: Australian Bloodstock unearth serious Melbourne Cup contender

Australian Bloodstock could have another serious Melbourne Cup 2026 contender on its hands after progressive stayer Wine Dark Sea staked his claim with an impressive victory in the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes (1m 5½f) at Newbury.

The four-year-old Ulysses gelding, trained by Harry Charlton, was purchased by Australian Bloodstock as a potential Cups contender after winning a handicap at Carlisle by 13 lengths in June.

Gamble landed!

Well-backed before the off, Wine Dark Sea bounces back to form in style in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes…@HectorCrouch @HarryJCharlton pic.twitter.com/G72sIZVnnP

— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) August 15, 2026

Wine Dark Sea finished fifth at Newmarket at his following start but bounced back to his best at Newbury under a clever ride from Hector Crouch.

Crouch took Wine Dark Sea to the front and controlled the tempo before kicking clear to defeat Table Talk by a length and a half, with favourite and multiple Group 1 winner Dubai Honour finishing third.

Wine Dark Sea has now won four of his 10 starts and will enter quarantine before travelling to Australia to target the lucrative spring staying races.

Charlton is looking forward to bringing the emerging stayer to Australia, where his brother Tom is based.

“We’ve got a story!” said Harry Charlton.

“People will latch on to the fact my brother Tom in Oz also has a Cup horse this year in King Pedro. When we sent Quest For More and Withhold to Melbourne, it was Tom who took them down but he then stayed in Australia and never came home. I’ve never been to Australia, so I had better go down there to see him.”

Australian Bloodstock’s Jamie Lovett is hopeful Wine Dark Sea can follow in the footsteps of the syndicator’s previous Melbourne Cup winners Protectionist and Gold Trip.

“With a nice light weight over the two miles of the Melbourne Cup, I think he’ll run us a race,” said Lovett.

“The key to our race is that you have to find a horse who is effective at a mile and a half, which Wine Dark Sea is.

“The dour staying types don’t work in a Melbourne Cup. You also have to beat the handicapper, which we failed to do with Al Riffa last year. You need to get in with a winning weight, which he’ll do. He’s also a young horse on the up who probably doesn’t yet have a ceiling.”