Kerrin McEvoy won on stablemate Shahwardi at Caulfield last start, but McEvoy is committed to Godolphin’s Lost In The Moment in the Cup, so Mosse is hopeful of getting the call.
But, then there is another problem – while Lost In The Moment is 26th in the order of entry (24 is the safety limit), Shahwardi is 29th even following the withdrawal on Monday of Manighar, Seville and Midas Touch.
The John Gosden-trained Gatewood is set to run in Saturday’s Lexus Stakes in a last-ditch effort to get into the Cup line-up. He is currently 33rd in the order of entry, but the winner of the Lexus is exempt from the ballot and goes automatically into the field, so he must win if he is to run on Tuesday.
It will also mean that he would have raced four times in 24 days if he gets to the Cup, something very unusual for a European runner. Locally, Dunaden and Americain are 11-2 joint-favourites, with the Luca Cumani-trained Mount Athos at 8-1 and Red Cadeaux is a 9-1 chance.
With the Cup approaching, the saddest news was the announcement that Darren Beadman, winner of two Melbourne Cups, had retired. Beadman, 47, suffered terrible head injuries in a fall in Hong Kong in February, and he has struggled since to regain the fitness required to make a comeback.
Beadman was diagnosed with diffuse-axonal condition, brought on when he damaged neurons and nerves in his brain. The condition affects balance, speech and memory.
Beadman had retired briefly once before, at the height of his career in 1997, to become a lay preacher. When told at the time of Beadman’s decision to turn to preaching, legendary trainer Bart Cummings famously said: “I think he should seek a second opinion.”
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