The Euphrates wins the Gr 2 Asahi Super Dry Kingston Town Stakes on September 19 at Randwick (via Youtube)
Stalwart South African owner Larry Nestadt looks set to have a lively runner in the Melbourne Cup running in his own colours.
The British-bred Frankel five-year-old gelding The Euphrates was formerly trained by Aidan O’Brien and he arrived in Australia in the middle of last year.
However, he was off for almost a year after some initial barrier trials and he finally made his Australian debut for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott on September 5 at Randwick, finishing fourth of nine in a Gr 2 over the too sharp 1600m at Randwick.
Two weeks later he was stepped up to 2000m in the Gr 2 Asahi Super Dry Kingston Town Stakes and he won from start to finish in resolute style.
Last Saturday he was stepped up again to 2400m in the Gr 2 Asahi Super Dry Metropolitan at Randwick and he finished a 3.6 length third.
Larry said after the latter defeat, “Today he had a lot of weight and didn’t make them gallop, they outsprinted him. He needs 3200m.”
On the upside he will not get any rating raise for the place, so will not get any extra weight if he does get into the Cup field.
The Euphrates is generally a 20/1 shot for the Melbourne Cup and is 25/1 in places.
Larry’s familiar South African colours are All Royal Blue and in Australia they are the same except they have yellow epaulettes.
