Sea The Stars (Ire)'s Sea King (GB) punched his ticket to the G1 Melbourne Cup next Tuesday when winning the G3 Bendigo Cup by 3 1/4 lengths on Wednesday (video). The 5-year-old took over prior to the home straight and forged clear to defeat Berkeley Square (Ire) (Territories {Ire}) in the 2400-metre feature.
“It's incredibly exciting. A lot was riding on it, it's the last win-and-you're-in for the Cup, so it's an absolute dream result today,” trainer Harry Eustace told racenet.com.au. “I'd just like to thank (syndicator) Terry (Henderson) … he managed to buy this horse just before Docklands (GB) travelled down as well and it's proving a pretty inspired purchase.
“Curiously, coming down, we never even thought we'd get close and, of course, since we've been here the Cup, as everyone is well aware, has really started cutting up. So the closer we got to getting in the more pressure there was I suppose.”
Bred by Highclere Stud, the son of stakes winner and G2 Ribblesdale Stakes third Pamona (Ire) (Duke Of Marmalade {Ire}) was an 87,000gns Tattersalls October Book 1 purchase by Barry Lynch and Heath House. After making several starts for Charlie Walker and Osborne House III, the gelding raced for Neil Boyden from May of 2022, winning several handicaps. He was sold privately to Australian connections prior to his Bendigo Cup score.
The weight the gelding will tote in the Race That Stops a Nation will be announced on Thursday. He will be ridden in the two-mile race by Hollie Doyle.
“Declan Bates is unfortunately not able to do the weight in the Cup, so we're lining Hollie Doyle up to take the ride, which would be a great booking,” said Eustace. “Based on his run today, if he can repeat that under Hollie, you'd like to think we're going there with a live chance.”
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
