Belleluia has come through her trial well. I have nominated for a 3YO Maiden (1200m, fillies only) at Kilmore on Sunday, November. If she continues to do well, and at this stage the weather reports are good for firm going, she will run. However, I will make a firm decision after she works on Thursday morning. Acceptances are not taken until 10.15am Thursday.

THEY SAID IT

“If you’ve got an eye for a horse you couldn’t miss him,” said the great Bart Cummings on Saturday after he won his fourth Cox Plate – and his 256th Group 1 race – with So You Think (b/br c 3, High Chaparral (IRE)-Triassic (NZ), by Tights (USA)).

So You Think is still a baby – officially a three-year-old, he doesn’t actually turn three until November 10, just four days before Cummings is 82. And at that age, Bart is entitled to say: “You can’t buy experience, you’ve got to earn it, and I’ve earned a fair bit and it’s starting to work.”

“Come this way, Mr Cummings.” Chief steward Terry Bailey obviously agrees that the great man has earned it. There was no “Bart” from Bailey as he tried to direct him through the media horde to the presentation ring after the Cox Plate win.

“He is all legs. He feels like he has got eight of them.” Jockey Luke Nolen likens Hanks (b g 3, Encosta De Lago-Sister Fromseattle (USA), by Seattle Slew (USA)) to an octopus after winning a key Victoria Derby trial, the AAMI Vase (2040m), at Moonee Valley on Saturday, and suggesting that Flemington would suit him even better.

“It is a big carrot in front of you – 2500 metres on a big track at Flemington,” trainer Peter Moody said when asked if the horse named for Tom Hanks, star of the movie Sleepless in Seattle.

“I’ve always said, mentally she’s fragile. Physically she’s a racehorse, but mentally she’s not there yet,” said Moody on his other impressive winner, Avenue ($1.50-$1.65f). After operations to remove chips from both fetlocks, Avenue (br f 3, Anabaa (USA)-Virage, by Kenmare (FR)) has had five starts for four wins – the loss was to subsequent Thousand Guineas winner Irish Lights. Avenue, a sister to former top sprinter Virage De Fortune, a dual Group 1 winner, looks a likely earner for years, be it on the track or as a broodmare, or both.

“He’s a horse that is still learning, so why not help the horse learn? Why send him off to university when he can still win in secondary class? I think he will be back here next year (for the Cox Plate),” said Rosehill trainer Chris Waller after Rangirangdoo’s dominant and record-breaking win in the G2 Patinack Farm Crystal Mile instead of running in the Cox Plate. Waller had displayed the great Bart Cummings trait, patience, with Rangirangdoo (b g 5, Pentire (GB)-She Wishes (NZ), by Kenfair (NZ)).

“It was a sensational ride. He just proves week in, week out that he’s made the step up and is on the way to becoming one of our elite jockeys,” said Robert Smerdon after Nick Hall’s last-stride win on Lady Lynette (br m 5, Ladoni (GB)-Queen’s Own, by Coronation Day) in the last at Moonee Valley.

WE SAW IT

While the focus was on Moonee Valley, Ascot in Perth highlighted another classy effort from one of several WA horses that keep on winning – this time it was Kasabian ($2.20f), who made it five on end with a gutsy effort in the Ascot Vale Handicap (1200 metres).

Trainer Darren McAuliffe is aiming Kasabian (b g 4, Choisir-Safety Valve, by Air De France (USA)) at the G1 Railway Stakes (1600) at Ascot on November 21. From 11 starts he has six wins and four placings.

The low point at Perth was the death of speedster Dark Target from a heart attack after he ran last as $1.60 favourite in the $125,000 Group 3 Prince Of Wales Stakes (1200m). Dark Target (br g 5, Danetime (IRE)-Accuracy, by Protos (USA)) won eight of 19 starts.

Idyllic Prince (b g 7, Scenic (IRE)-Uma Princess, by Umatilla (NZ)) won the race, his 12^th success in 34 starts.

WE’LL WATCH IT

Wednesday has the $150,000 Listed Bendigo Cup (2200m) and Friday has a night meeting at Moonee Valley, but Saturday is the go when Derby Day at Flemington kicks off the Melbourne Cup carnival with four Group 1s: the $1.5m Victoria Derby (2500m), the $750,000 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m), the $500,000 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) and the $500,000 Myer Classic (1600m). But wait, there’s more – the $300,000 G2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m), the $300,000 G2 Salinger Stakes (1200m), the $250,000 G3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m), the $250,000 G3 Chatham Stakes (1400m) and the $250,000 G3 Lexus (2500m), formerly the SAAB Quality and the last chance to qualify for the Melbourne Cup. 

They also race at Rosehill, Eagle Farm, Ascot and Morphettville.

Extroverted international jockey Frankie Dettori will jet in for his 12th crack at winning the Melbourne Cup. Godolphin has put him on Kirklees (b h 2004, Jade Robbery (USA)-Moyesii (USA), by Diesis (GB)). Kerrin McEvoy, who was seventh on Kirklees in the Caulfield Cup, switches to second-stringer Crime Scene (b g 2003, Royal Applause (GB)-Crime (USA), by Gulch (USA)), who was sixth in the Geelong Cup.

With Caulfield Cup failure Cima De Triomphe not qualified for the Melbourne Cup, Damien Oliver will ride the Chris Waller-trained import Warringah (b g 2005, Galileo (IRE)-Threefold (USA), by Gulch (USA)), who was trained by Sir Michael Stoute. “Ollie” will be allowed to ride a half-kilo over at 53kg.

Dan Nikolic will ride Basaltico (ch h 2004, Shantou (USA)-Sfilza, by Indian Ridge (USA)) for Cima De Triomphe’s trainer Luca Cumani – if  the horse makes the final 24. He is 28th in qualification order after third declarations today.

If David Hayes decides to run Changingoftheguard (b c 2006, Montjeu (IRE)-Miletrian (IRE), by Marju (IRE)), Glen Boss will ride. The former Aidan O’Brien-trained horse is back on track after a hoof abscess burst.

MARKETS - TAB Sportsbet offers these odds (all in):

Melbourne Cup, 3200m

Flemington November 3

$6.50 Efficient, Viewed, Alcopop

$11 Roman Emperor

$13 Zipping

$15 Daffodil, Speed Gifted

$17 Master O’Reilly

$21 Leica Ding, Mourilyan, C’Est La Guerre, Vigor, Shocking

$26 Allez Wonder

$31 Kirklees, Warringah, Changingoftheguard

$41 Munsef, Fiumicino

$61 Capecover, Kibbutz, Precedence, Basaltico, Crime Scene, Dandaad, Ista Kareem

$81 Hume, Zavite, Newport

Victoria Derby, 2500m

Flemington, Saturday

$3.40 Shamopline Warrior

$5.50 Rockferry

$7 Monaco Consul

$9 Hanks

$11 Southern Skye, Viking Legend

$13 Onemorenomore

$14 Extra Zero, Spacecraft

$15 Bridgestone

$18 Gathering

The reception given to Apache Cat after his success in the G2 Schweppes Stakes at Moonee Valley was of Cox Plate intensity as the white-faced sprinter confirmed his standing as the crowd favourite – just imagine the volume if he had been trained by the other crowd favourite, the enduring Bart Cummings, who was similarly feted on winning the G1 Plate with So You Think almost 90 minutes later.

The wins and the noise confirmed the champions’ popularity and reinforced the brilliance of the backdrop that is Moonee Valley. Move the Cox Plate to Flemington and you have a vast track that has the status to hold Australia’s weight-for-age championship, but you don’t have the closeness that makes this race what it is.

There is an old saying – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Say no more.

There will be plenty more said about Cummings as the Melbourne Cup unfolds for the 149th time, but Apache Cat (ch g 7, Lion Cavern (USA)-Tennessee Blaze, by Whiskey Road (USA)) will be under the radar for a few weeks before heading to Hong Kong to try to complete some unfinished business in the Cathay Pacific International Sprint (1200m) at Sha Tin, probably after a run in the G2 Sprint Trial (1200m) at that track on November 22.

Cranbourne trainer Greg Eurell said he would give Apache Cat, a winner of eight Group 1s, a week off before starting to get him ready. “They’ve got international trials on there before the main event so it could work out really good for him,” he said.

Apache Cat is the winner of 19 races and nearly $4.6 million, and connections believe they have a job to complete in Hong Kong – the Cat ran a close third in the International Sprint in 2007 after hitting a “flat spot” early in the straight. Corey Brown rode him then, but Damien Oliver has become the partner of choice as the pair has had three wins since Brown was unplaced in the Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington in January.

In preparing for Hong Kong, Apache Cat will not run in the Group 1 Patinack Farm Classic (1200m) at Flemington on November 7. Eurell expects to run the stable’s emerging star, Mic Mac in that race – Mic Mac (b g 4, Statue Of Liberty (USA)-Amandine, by Tertian (USA)) was second to Apache Cat on Saturday.

With Scenic Blast (b/br g 5, Scenic (IRE)-Daughter’s Charm, by Delgado (USA)) already in Hong Kong for the $HK12 million (almost $2 million) Sprint after failing in Japan on October 4, Australia will have at least two starters on the big international day.

Scenic Blast’s connections, too, have unfinished business – win at Sha Tin and they get a $US1 million bonus for winning Group 1 races in three countries as part of the Global Sprint Challenge.

Hong Kong has received 12 Australian nominations among the 68 (17 G1 winners) for the Sprint, although most won’t go. Also nominated are: All Silent, Danleigh, Duporth, Eagle Falls, Fist Of Fury, Light Fantastic, Nicconi, Ortensia, Raheed and Turffontein.

Australians nominated for the three other G1 races are:

The $HK16 million Mile (16): All American, All Silent, Apache Cat, Black Piranha, Duporth, Eagle Falls, Gold Salute, Largo Lad, Mentality, Nicconi, Ortensia, Phenomenons, Racing To Win, Road To Rock, Turffontein, Von Costa De Hero.

The $HK20 million Cup (9): Largo Lad, Mentality, Phenomenons, Predatory Pricer, Racing To Win, Red Lord, Road To Rock, Scenic Shot, Zavite.

The $HK14 million Vase (5): Fiumicino, Predatory Pricer, Red Lord, Scenic Shot, Zavite.

Horses selected from the worldwide total of 298 nominations that include 79 G1 winners will be announced late next month, but the handful invited for Trial races will be known tomorrow.

Bill Nader, executive director of racing of the HKJC, said other key sprint nominations were:

- From Europe, Prix de l’Abbaye winner Total Gallery, July Cup heroine Fleeting Spirit and the dual Nunthorpe Stakes winner Borderlescott;

- From the US, Cannonball, the speedster who made such a big impression at Royal Ascot this year;

 - From Japan, Laurel Guerreiro, recent winner of the Sprinters’ Stakes at Nakayama;

- And from Hong Kong, the world’s top-ranked sprinter Sacred Kingdom, last year’s International Sprint winner Inspiration (who won at Sha Tin yesterday), and the up-and-coming Happy Zero. Both Inspiration and Happy Zero are trained by Australian John Moore, whose stable rider Darren Beadman will get the pick of the mounts.

Other world-class horses nominated for the meeting are:

- In the Vase, British stars, Conduit (three G1 wins) and Youmzain (runner-up in the past three Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe);

- In the Mile, France’s six-time G1 winner Goldikova, Vodka, Japan’s most successful mare, and Good Ba Ba, the Hong Kong horse seeking to win the race for the third time on end;

- And in the Cup, last year’s winner Eagle Mountain, Presvis (winner of  the Audemars Piguet QEII Cup at this distance in April for Luca Cumani) and Collection, Hong Kong Derby winner last season.

Craig Williams, winner of the past four Victorian premierships, rode two winners on a flying visit to Sha Tin yesterday, both for Australian trainer John Size. The wins on Appreciation (b g 4, Danasinga-Kincia (NZ), by Kinjite (NZ)) and Unique Jewellery (bg 5, O’Reilly (NZ)-Aulide (USA), by Snippets) were welcomed by the jockey – he was sacked this month by leading trainer David Hayes, has just finished a suspension that cost him key carnival rides and then was second in the Cox Plate on Manhattan Rain to another three-year-old, So You Think.

Williams also had good news at home yesterday, picking up the G1 Mackinnon Stakes mount on So You Think at Flemington on Saturday when Glen Boss was suspended for his Cox Plate ride.

The Thoroughbred’s breeding analysis and commentary THE BREED – http://thebreed.thethoroughbred.com.au –  is now a stand-alone blog.

Read about the day Bart Cummings bought his latest star, So You Think.

View THE BREED blog.

When Windsor Park Stud’s marketing manager, the effervescent Michael Moran was supervising Bart Cummings’ viewing of the farm’s draft at the 2008 Karaka Premier Yearling Sale, the wily trainer was showing interest in the stock of first season sire High Chaparral, a champion son of the great Sadler’s Wells, and a likely source of future Melbourne Cup winners.

None had impressed him until a strapping, well balanced colt from the mare Triassic stepped out between the barns. “Now you’re talking,” Cummings said as he circled the colt.

Moran had a special reason to take note of Cummings’s thoughts about the colt, because he bred him.

Cummings stuck firm and paid, through agent and close friend Duncan Ramage, NZ$110,000 for the colt for long-time client and friend Dato Tan Chin Nam – a good result for Moran and his partners, but half what he expected. “John McArdle opened the bidding at $100,000 but his client, who was on the phone, went cold, so he didn’t bid again. At least, we knew the colt was going to the right stable,” Moran said.

The colt, So You Think, has emerged as a superstar, and Cummings, it is said, privately labelled the 3YO as the best horse he has trained since Saintly before Saturday’s outstanding win in the Group 1 Cox Plate (WFA 2040m) at Moonee Valley, the colt is close to realising Cummings’ expectations.

It was jockey Glen Boss who got the most out of Cummings in ascertaining where Cummings places the colt in the scheme of history. “I said to Bart on Saturday night that So You Think could be the best horse he has trained, and he replied ‘you could be right’,” Boss said on radio Sport927 on Sunday.

Cummings said after the Cox Plate that he was impressed with the colt as soon as he saw him. “He has a deep girth and a long rein. Any good judge of a horse couldn’t miss him,” he said. Plenty did.

Moran paid $16,000 for Triassic (b m 1990, Tights (USA)–Astral Row (NZ), by Long Row (GB)) at the 2005 Easter Broodmare Sale, in foal to Danehill’s moderately-performed brother Nuclear Freeze.

“She is a beautiful looking mare who throws great foals, but she has been unlucky at stud. Her progeny have ability, but she hasn’t, until know, left the horse she deserves,” Moran said.

“I bought her because she was a great racehorse. She won the (1994, Group 2) Sir Tristram Classic and should have won the (1994, Group 2) Royal Stakes. She was the ideal mare to bring back to New Zealand to put to a horse like High Chaparral.

”Triassic, now 19, missed to High Chaparral in 2006, she has a yearling colt by Elusive City and she was mated in 2008 to the Danehill son Spartacus.

Moran said the mare, who has been used in the past two years by partners Piper Farm, will return to High Chaparral this season.

The Thoroughbred Magazine Club’s filly Belleluia trialled well at Cranbourne last Monday.

Trainer Robbie Griffiths said the filly did exactly what he hoped she would do. “She missed the start a little, but she cruised through to be with the leaders on the turn,” he said.

“She took over at the 300m, but I instructed jockey Ivan Culliver to keep her together as the track was a heavy10 and she doesn’t handle it. She was overrun in the last 50m to finish fourth, beaten a length.”

Griffiths said Belleluia is not wound up and she is still shedding her winter coat.

“At this stage, I doubt we will trial her again. I am looking at a race for her at Kilmore on November 1, but at this stage a decision will be made after she works in the next 10 days.”

Culliver was impressed by the filly. “She gives me a good feel. I think she will be best suited by 1400m or 1600m,” he said.

Belleluia pleased me when running fourth in an 800 metre barrier trial yesterday at Cranbourne Training Complex. She was in Trial 8 and they will be replayed on the TVN racing channel this evening. Ivan Culliver rode her and was happy with her performance. She was still slowly away but will improve for the experience of yesterday. She settled well in midfield and when he asked her to quicken she struggled on the heavy ground but he was pleased with her incentive to want to give and sprint, and he believes that when the tracks are firmer she will be a lot better on better ground.

She is not fully fit yet so yesterdays trial will bring her condition on also. All in all I was very pleased with yesterdays performance, she is shedding her winter coat and I believe with sustained training she will be ready to go to the races in the early part of the November, possibly Kilmore on the 1st but we will not finalise that until I see how she trains in the next week. I am very pleased with what I see and I will update next week. 

The Thoroughbred’s Perth racing expert Josh Rodder has been busy this week helping lure Eastern States horses to the West’s Festival of Racing that will take the Group focus Australia-wide after Melbourne’s spring carnival.

Hence he has concentrated on the quaddie for tomorrow’s Ascot meeting. To find out what Rodder is tipping CLICK HERE

Oh, and remembering the great Takeover Target-Apache Cat clash in the Group 2 Winterbottom Stakes (1200m) when Takeover put his nose out on the line to win, what stars might we be able to bet on in Perth this summer?

TT has retired, but will the Cat go back? Will All Silent make a noise there or in Hong Kong? Will perennial visitor David Hayes send some of his Group horses across the Nullarbor again?

Stay tuned, and follow Rodder’s tips to build up a bank for the Group 1 headliners, the Railway Stakes (1600m) and the Kingston Town Classic (1800m).

Dane Shadow’s stocks on and off the racetrack continue to rise.

Kitchwin Hills has announced that Dane Shadow will cover the Broodmare of the Year, Shady Stream, in the next few days. Shady Stream is best known as the dam of the champion sprinter Takeover Target (by Celtic Swing)  and the rising star Group 2 winner Predatory Pricer (by Street Cry).

Shady Stream’s last foal is now two, and named Wilful Default, by Dubawi, who won a trial for trainer Paul Murray (who also trains Predatory Pricer) at Kembla Grange last Wednesday. Wilful Default cost Murray’s owners $420,000 at the 2009 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale.

Shady Stream, now 15, has missed in the last two coverings by Exceed And Excel (2007) and Street Sense (2008). The mare is by Archregent (CAN) from Merry Shady, by Spectacular Spy (USA).

Dane Shadow stands at Kitchwin Hills for a fee of $16,500 (inc. GST). He is fully booked for 2009.

Until Thursday (Oct. 22), Darley’s former shuttler Tiger Hill had sired four winners in  Australia – now he has seven, after producing a treble of winners.

The most impressive winner for the son of Danehill was Mick Price’s previously unraced filly Nakaaya (b f 3, ex- Duchess Talaria, by Marwina) who finished powerfully to win easily over 1000m at Ballarat. The filly ran the trip in a slick 57.59 secs.

Tiger Hall also sired a maiden winner at Ipswich, Street Sign (b f 2006, ex-Direct Sign, by Zoffany (USA) and a promising gelding, Martial Art (b g 2006, ex-Kwan (IRE), by Sadler’s Wells (USA)), who won at New Plymouth (1400m) in New Zealand for leading trainer Mark Walker.

The new winners come from Tiger Hill’s first Australian crop of 79 foals. His final Australian crop are foals this spring and he has 35 on the ground from 85 coverings.

Darley imported Tiger Hill after the stallion built a big reputation for siring winners over all distances in Europe, particularly in Germany (where he stood for a number of season) and France. In fact, the stallion has an incredible strike rate of 24 Stakes winners from 147 winners, including two Group 1 winners.

Tiger Hill wasn’t expected to leave early runners, so it is not surprising that some of them are starting to show up as 3YOs. Nakaaya was bought by trainer Cliff Brown for $60,o00 at the 2008 Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale, but Brown left her with Price after taking an offer to train in Singapore.

Nakaaya’s dam Duchess Talaria, as her name suggests, is a granddaughter of the former top class racemare Princess Talaria (br m 1974, Dignitas–Winged Beauty, by Port Vista (IRE)). Princess Talaria won the 1977 Group 1 Thousand Guineas (1600m) at Caulfield and the 1977 Group 2 Edward Manifold Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.

Martial Art looks a likely customer, who will improve as Walker stretches him over more ground. His dam Kwan is a product of the famed Sadler’s Wells-Shirley Heights cross.