Trainer Saeed bin Suroor has identified lightly raced Godolphin stayer Elite Army as a possible 2016 Melbourne Cup contender.
Bin Suroor believes the five-year-old could be well suited to the two-mile (3200m) trip in the famous handicap at Flemington on November 1.
Having finished second in the Duke of Edinburgh Handicap at Royal Ascot, Elite Army turned in a below-par effort on his most recent outing when unplaced in the Princess of Wales’s Stakes won by Big Orange at Newmarket last week.
“He was disappointing. He needs to have a break now. We will bring him back, I would like to think, at the end of August,” bin Suroor said.
“He could go two miles and maybe at the end of the season we will take him to Australia for the Melbourne Cup.”