Vauban (Fr) (Galiway {GB}), the beaten favourite in last year's G1 Melbourne Cup, is reported to have settled in well at the quarantine facility in Werribee as he warms up for a second assault on the race on Tuesday, November 5, with connections hoping the busier campaign he's had in 2024 will ensure that he arrives at Flemington in peak condition.
Trained by Willie Mullins, Vauban was having his first start for three months when finishing down the field behind Without A Fight (Ire) (Teofilo {Ire}) in 2023, but this year he's had more regular racing with five runs under his belt since May, notably winning the G2 Lonsdale Cup at York in August, before filling the runner-up spot behind Kyprios (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the G1 Irish St Leger at the Curragh when last seen.
He will once again be joined in the line-up by Absurde (Fr) (Fastnet Rock {Aus}), who fared better than his stable-mate when finishing seventh in last year's Melbourne Cup and touched down in Australia after winning a Listed contest at Chester on his most recent outing. William Buick has been confirmed as the intended rider of Vauban, with Kerrin McEvoy taking the mount on Absurde.
“It obviously didn't work, the way we did it last year, so we'll try something different this year and see how we get on,” Mullins's assistant David Casey told Racing.com. “On the day, we got the tactics wrong with both horses and we just felt we'd left something behind with Vauban as well. He didn't give his true running and we think he's better than he showed last year.
“[Last year] once we'd got him qualified, we just wanted to make sure that we were able to get him here and it ended up being a long time between runs. So we decided to run him more often this year and send him down here hopefully a whole lot fitter than he was coming here last year and with those runs under his belt. He's had a really good preparation.”
He added, “Both horses, Vauban and Absurde, seemed to travel very well. Obviously, they've been here before so they know what it's like. They ate and drank plenty on the plane and since they've arrived in Werribee both horses have been very good. Vauban has put back on everything [weight] he lost and the other guy has put on most of it.”
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