Lloyd Williams has made no secret of his desire to win Australian racing’s great prize, the $6m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m).
The leviathan owner has been involved in three Melbourne Cup winners – Just a Dash (1981), What a Nuisance (1985) and Efficient (2007) – with the latter two carrying his famous navy blue and white colours to success.
While his team at Macedon Lodge already look to have a number of live chances in this year’s race – including Caulfield Cup placegetter Green Moon, Epsom Derby runner-up At First Sight, English St Leger second Midas Touch, Mackinnon Stakes placegetter Mourayan and Bendigo Cup winner Tanby – two more class imports have joined the stables in the hope of securing a fourth win in the Melbourne Cup.
Marksmanship and Seville have arrived in Australia with both the Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup high on the agenda.
Seville, who ran second in both the Irish Derby behind Treasure Beach and the Grand Prix de Paris behind Meandre, was at one time second favourite for the English Derby.
He disappointed behind Pour Moi in the blue riband, but the rest of his three year old season was quite good. In addition to the Irish and French classics, he ran second in the Dante Stakes over a2000m to The Queen’s top galloper Carlton House and fourth in the English St Leger over a2800m behind Masked Marvel. He comes here with similar credentials to Mourayan and Midas Touch and must be respected.
Marksmanship is a more progressive type, as a veteran of only four starts.
He won his maiden at The Curragh in impressive style before starting favourite in the Group 3 Tercentenary Stakes (2000m) during the Royal Ascot festival at just his second start. It was a race previously won by the likes of Hong Kong Derby winner Collection and Mackinnon Stakes winner Glass Harmonium. He finished seventh to Pisco Sour.
He subsequently ran a disappointing sixth in the Grand Prix de Paris before finishing second, once again as favourite, in the Ballyroan Stakes behind Dermot Weld’s Sense of Purpose.
Both were formerly trained by Aidan O’Brien in Ireland, as were many of the previous Lloyd Williams imports, and both are sons of Galileo.
A third Irish import, Above, comes off lower class races. He raced in Ireland as Jackaroo, and won his final start at Dundalk after running fourth in Listed company at Limerick.
