AJC Derby winner Shoot Out (pictured winning the Randwick Guineas) has been installed a surprising second favourite for tomorrow’s Group 3 Bletchingly Stakes (wfa 1200m) at Caulfield.

He is as short as $4.20 with some pre-post operators, a firm second pick behind the mare Velocitea, who is favourite around $3.50.

Bookmakers are obviously expecting Shoot Out to be fresh and sprint well despite the fact trainer John Wallace warns that the almost 4YO (on Sunday) is “going into the race very underdone”.

Wallace said he is planning a long, race-driven campaign to get Shoot Out fit for his chief assignments, the Caulfield Cup and Melbourne Cup double.

The Bletchingly – run either late in July or early in August – is not a traditional lead-up race for the spring majors. The 1400m Group 2 Liston Stakes (wfa, Caulfield), run two weeks after the Bletchingly, is usually the starting point for the spring stayers.

But the Bletchingly is not a race without some spring influence.

Elvstroem resumed with a third behind Le Zagaletta in the 2004 Bletchingly Stakes, and he went on to win the Group 1 Caulfield Cup after winning the Group 1 Underwood Stakes and Group 1 Turnbull Stakes. He capped of his campaign with a sound fourth behind Makybe Diva in the Melbourne Cup.

It’s worth noting that Elvstroem, like Shoot Out, also had won a Derby the previous season – the Group 1 Victoria Derby.

Back in 1994, when the Bletchingly was first run – and won by Poetic King, who went on to win the Group 1 Toorak Handicap that preparation – George Hanlon used the sprint to kick off the cups campaign for Our Pompeii, who had won the Group 1 Adelaide Cup in the autumn.

Our Pompeii was only 13^th behind Paris Lane in the Caulfield Cup and 15^th behind Jeune in the Melbourne Cup, but he won the Group 2 Sandown Cup at the end of the campaign.

Racing Victoria’s chief handicapper Greg Carpenter has assembled what he regards as the greatest 24 winners of the Melbourne Cup.

Carpenter has handicapped his fictional 24-horse field – including barriers drawn by the Racing Victoria stewards – featuring Phar Lap as the top weight with 60kg.

The “race” was unveiled as part of the launch of the magnificent book, The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s Greatest Race, which was edited by Stephen Howell and published by the Slattery Media Group.

The book has been released as part of the celebrations leading into the running of the 150^th Melbourne Cup on the first Tuesday in November.

Melbourne Cup winning jockeys Roy Higgins (two wins) and Glen Boss (three wins) – pictured with Phar Lap in the background at the Melbourne Museum – were just some of the special guests at the book launch.

The Greatest Cup Never Run will, in fact, be run at Flemington on Cup day when the digital simulation of the race, with race call, will be presented on the big screen.A panel of 22 experts have analysed the race and their thoughts will go into the simulated race to produce the result. Punters will be able to participate for prizes in a soon to be announced promotion.

The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s Greatest Race will be available in all good bookstores for $99.95, or can be ordered through the Slattery Media Group’s website.

FIELD FOR THE GREATEST MELBOURNE CUP NEVER RUN:

Melbourne Cup (3200m), Flemington

Comments courtesy of the Herald Sun.

S’cloth No. – Horse – Trainer – Jockey – Barrier – Weight

1. PHAR LAP - Harry Telford – Jim Pike – 21 – 60kg: 1930 Equine freak. Won with 62.5kg. Only odds-on winner

2. CARBINE – Walter Hickenbotham – Bob Ramage – 16 – 59kg:
1890 19th century champ who carried 65.5kg, a weight carrying record

3. MAKYBE DIVA – Lee Freedman -  Glen Boss – 14 – 58kg:
2003-05 Only Cup threepeat winner. Viewed as modern-day equivalent of Phar Lap

4. PETER PAN – Frank McGrath -  Darby Munro – 13 – 58kg:
1932 & 1934 Dual winner in Phar Lap era

5. GALILEE – Bart Cummings – John Miller – 1 – 57.5kg:
1966 Won Toorak Hcp, Caulfield-Melbourne Cup and Fisher Plate in spring of ‘66

6. POSEIDON - Ike Earnshaw -  Tom Clayton – 3 – 57.5kg:
1906 Won Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup, VRC and AJC Derby as a 3YO

7. RISING FAST – Ivan Tucker – Jack Purtell – 11 – 57kg:
1954 Capped a stunning spring when he won Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup – the only horse to win the triple crown.

8. RAIN LOVER – Mick Robins – Jim Johnson – 7 – 56kg:
1968 Eight-length winner of the Cup then carried 60.5kg to win successive Cups

9. COMIC COURT – Jim Cummings – Pat Glennon – 24 – 55.5kg:
1950 Trained by Bart’s dad, just one of five original top weights to win Cup in 1950

10. GRAND FLANEUR – Tom Brown -  Tom Hales – 4 – 55.5kg:
1880 Only Cup winner never to be beaten. Won nine from nine.

11. MIGHT AND POWER – Jack Denham – Jim Cassidy -  12 – 55kg:
1997 Modern-day champ who defied 3.5kg penalty from Caulfield Cup win to win the big one

12. ARCHER – Etienne De Mestre – Johnny Cutts – 22 – 54kg:
1861-62 Started it all. Won first Cup by six lengths and the second by eight

13. VINTAGE CROP – Dermot Weld – Michael Kinane – 10 – 54kg:
1993 First European-trained Cup winner and introduced DK Weld to Cup folklore

14. DELTA – Maurice McCarten – Neville Selwood – 9 – 53.5kg:
1951 Won 11 of his 14 starts as a 5YO including ‘51 Cup with 59.5kg

15. MALUA – Isaac Foulsham – Alick Robertson -  17 – 53.5kg:
1884 Carried 61kg to win Cup one year after winning Oakleigh Plate/Newmarketnts and four years before won Grand National Hurdle

16. NIGHTMARCH – Alex McAulay – Roy Reed – 5 – 53.5kg:
1929 First horse to win Cox Plate/Melbourne Cup double defeating Phar Lap in 1929

17. POITREL – Harry Robinson – Ken Bracken – 20 – 53.5kg:
1920 Sydney-centric stayer who won with 63kg

18. SAINTLY - Bart Cummings – Darren Beadman – 2 – 53kg:
1996 Maybe Bart’s best Cup winner. One of only five to win Cox Plate/Cup double in same year

19. THE BARB – John Tait – William Davis – 18 – 53kg:
1886 Phenomenal 19th-Century stayer who won as 3YO and given highest ever handicap – 73kg as a 6YO.

20. DALRAY – Clarrie McCarthy -  Bill Williamson – 19 – 52.5kg:
1952 New Zealand champ. Only Phar Lap carried more weight to win as 4YO

21. HALL MARK – Jack Holt – Jack O’Sullivan – 23 -  52.5kg:
1933 Another champ from the Phar Lap era. Won as 3Y0

22. LIGHT FINGERS – Bart Cummings – Roy Higgins – 15 – 52.5kg:
1965 Introduced Bart Cummings to the great race he would make his own

23. DORIEMUS – Lee Freedman – Damien Oliver – 6 – 52kg:
1995 Completed Caulfield/Melbourne Cup double then gave weight to Might And Power when beaten a pimple in ‘97

24. THINK BIG – Bart Cummings – Harry White – 8 – 52kg:
1974-75 Another of Bart’s Cup winners. Dual winner, latter with 58.5kg

Japanese horses have been given Australian Government approval to travel to Australia, without going through Europe, for this year’s 150^th running of the Melbourne Cup.

Quarantine restrictions, enforced after the equine influenza outbreak in 2007, have meant that Japanese horses haven’t been able to defend Delta Blues’ historic Melbourne Cup win in 2006.

“The lift of restrictions only allows for horses from one area, Tokyo,” said Greg Carpenter, Racing Victoria’s chief handicapper, at the launch of the The Story Of the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s Great Race, a book celebrating the 150 years of the Cup. View details.

Carpenter added that the state-of-the-art Miho Training Centre, north of Tokyo, from where Delta Blues and Pop Rock (second in the 2006 Cup) were trained, will remain restricted for the time being.

At this stage, two horses are likely to make the trip south – the 2010 Group 1 Tenno Sho (3200m, Kyoto) winner Jaguar Mail (pictured) and the runner-up, Meiner Kitz. Australian jockey Craig Williams, who rode Jaguar Mail in the Tenno Sho, will partner the horse in Australia.

While all the attention will be on the Melbourne Cup contenders, coming with them will be an Australian-bred colt, Break A Theory (ch c 2007, Galileo (IRE)-True Doubt, by Redoute’s Choice), who will be entered for the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington three days before the Melbourne Cup.

“He’s a very interesting horse. Whereas no Australian two-year-old has raced beyond 1600m, this Galileo colt already has beaten Japanese three-year-olds over 2300m,” Carpenter said.

Break The Theory, who cost $50,000 as a yearling at the 2009 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sale (Morning Rise draft), is trained by Hiroshi Miyamoto.

The colt’s dam, True Doubt, is a half-sister to the dual Group 1 winner Road To Rock (by Encosta De Lago), who has been retired to stand at stud in New Zealand this spring.

I am still trying to get my head around Harbinger’s 11-length demolition of his high-class rivals in the Group 1 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2400m) at Ascot on Saturday.

How is it that a horse making his first appearance in a Group 1 – at his ninth start – can treat his opposition with such contempt? And these were not ordinary rivals either, but the best horses in Europe.

Behind Harbinger were, in order, the Group 1 Irish Derby winner Cape Blanco, three-times Arc runner-up Youmzain, 2009 Group 1 Hong Kong Vase winner Daryakana, Group 1 Epsom Derby winner, and stablemate, Workforce, and Confront, also a stablemate, who did his job as pacemaker.

To quote British journalist Rolf Johnstone in the Sunday Express: “(Harbinger’s) nostrils were the only part of him extended at Ascot.”

I can only deduce that not only is Harbinger very smart and improving, but also his rivals maybe grossly overrated – even allowing for the fact that the two Derby winners may have peaked at their Derby quests.

Before the King George, Harbinger had a soft lead-up win in the Group 2 Hardwicke Stakes (2400m) at Royal Ascot, after untouched Group 3 wins at Newbury (2400m) and Chester (2600m). Impressive, dominant performances, but nothing to suggest he could win a King George by a widening 11 lengths.

However, he went into the race fit, fresh and firing, and with the polish that we expect of his master trainer Sir Michael Stoute.

Harbinger is a 4YO entire by Danehill’s exceptional sire-son Dansili (b h 1996, ex-Hasili (FR), by Kahyasi (IRE)) from the French mare Penang Pearly, by Bering (GB). He cost owner Highclere Thoroughbreds, England’s high-end syndication group, 180,000 guineas ($294,364) as a yearling – VRC committeeman Peter Barnett is part of the Hartbinger syndicate.

In an interesting twist, Workforce’s owner Khalid Abdullah’s Juddmonte Farms owns Dansili and stands him at his Cheverley farm, near Newmarket (UK). Dansili has had a big week, also siring two Group 3 winners at Leopardstown and a Listed winner at the Curragh.

Dansili was placed in Group 1 company five times without a win, but at stud he has been exceptional, siring six Group 1 winners, including the 2006 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Rail Link.

The impeccably-bred Dansili is from the wonder broodmare Hasili – the Eight Carat of Europe – who, apart from Dansili, has produced five Group 1 winners, four by Danehill (Banks Hill, Intercontinental, Cacique, Champs Elysees) and one by Green Desert (USA) (Heat Haze), a son of Danehill’s sire Danzig (USA).

Australia has had a chance to tap into the Dansili phenomenon, as a number of mares were imported in foal to the stallion in early 2007. The result was 10 yearlings by Dansili going through this year’s Australian and New Zealand yearling sales.

Eight of those youngsters were sold at an average of $92,812.50. The top-priced Dansili yearling was sold at Karaka (New Zealand) to the bid of Peter Moody for $NZ240,000 – a colt from Delilah, a Group 3-winning mare by Bluebird (USA).

Trainer Colin Little paid $160,000 for a filly from Mizzle (USA) (by Hansel (USA)) from the Yarraman Park draft at Inglis Easter, while Ingham Racing paid the same amount for a colt at the Magic Millions Gold Coast from the Warning (GB) mare Infringe (GB).

Only two of Dansili’s progeny have raced in Australia – Sieger Sieger (b g 2004), from the Black Tie (USA) mare Black Velvet (USA), was sold as a yearling to Mark Pilkington for $100,000 at the 2006 Magic Millions Summer Sale, before winning five provincial races, while Danefield (b g 2003, ex-Cupids Charm (GB), by Cadeaux Genereux (GB)), claimed only a lowly Cessnock maiden win in 12 starts.

Footnote: Dansili’s half-brother Raise The Flag (GB), by Sadler’s Wells (USA), will make his stud debut at the famed White Robe Lodge, Otago, on New Zealand’s south island, a a fee of $NZ4000. Raise The Flag was unplaced in his only start, but he will stand at the stud that also launched the stud careers of two of New Zealand’s greatest sires, Mellay (GB) and Noble Bijou (USA), who both retired unraced, but with wonderful, international pedigrees.

Mellay (1961, by Never Say Die (USA)) was out of the Epsom Oaks winner Meld (by Alycidon (GB)), who also produced the Epsom Derby winner Charlottown (GB). Mellay was twice New Zealand’s champion stallion.

Noble Bijou (1971, by Vaguely Noble (IRE), was out of Priceless Gem (USA) (by Hail To Reason (USA)), the dam of champion filly Allez France, who won 11 Group 1 races, including the 1974 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Noble Bijou sired 65 Stakes winners (10 Group 1s).

Photo: Harbinger in full flight winning the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot (photo: Highclere.co.uk).

El Stupendo, the 3YO brother to champion El Segundo (pictured), looked every bit a star in the making when he powered home to win at his second race start, today at Geelong.

El Stupendo, unlike the dark bay El Segundo, who retired earlier this year, is a rich chestnut. Both horses are by Pins from the Oak Ridge mare, Palos Verdes.

Trainer Colin Little prepared El Segundo to win 12 races and $3.9 million in stakes. The heavily-built gelding, who cost $NZ140,000 as a yearling at Karaka (NZ), won eight Stakes races, including four at Group 1 level. His most important win came in 2007 when he won the Cox Plate (wfa 2040m).

Little was given El Stupendo to train by his breeders.

Like El Stupendo, El Segundo started humbly, recording his first win as a March 3YO at Cranbourne in 2005. He won his first Group 1 win later that year when he beat Fields Of Omagh in the Yalumba Stakes (wfa 2000m, Caulfield).

El Stupendo has a similar, long low action to his brother. He also possesses a sharp burst of speed when ridden quietly.

It been almost a year since the affable and popular Little lost his wife Jacquie to a long battle with cancer. Few people will begrudge him another good horse and he looks like he has found one.

Trainer Tony Vasil may have found himself a spring contender in the nicely-bred colt, Intencion, an impressively debut winner on the all-weather at Geelong today.

Intencion (Spanish for intention), ridden by Glen Boss – who had been cleared of a suspected broken bone in the foot from an incident at Sandown the previous afternoon –  beat a pretty handy mid-winter field of 3YOs, including the promising runner-up Massivo (by Mossman), a first starter for Danny O’Brien. Both horses look to have a bright future in better races.

The Vasil stable regards Intencion as horse that could measure up to spring standard – Vasil’s racing manager Sam Doran was quick to “twitter” after the race … “you might see him in the spring”.

It’s not uncommon for spring horses to emerge in the winter and be contenders for the early spring features, and Vasil has done it before – prime examples being the outstanding half-brothers Elvstroem and Haradasun.

Boss was effusive about the colt when speaking on TVN. “This is a real nice horse,” he said.

“He seems like he has a bit of presence about him. He’s got a really good action and he’s well educated, but on the other hand he’s still very raw. He would have held them off for another lap, he was just kidding to them.

“This is a horse you can probably stick with and follow – he’s going to win a fair few races.”

The heavily backed Intencion ($2.30 – $1.85) is a son of top sire Commands (by Danehill (USA)) from Acupuncture, a well-related mare by Pins (by Snippets) – this could be one of the first high-quality runners to emerge from a Pins mare.

This is the same Danehill line over Snippets line that also has produced the brilliant Group 1-winning sprinters (and now sires at Eliza Park) Wanted (by Fastnet Rock from a Snippets mare) and Magnus (by Flying Spur from a Snippets mare).

Interestingly, Intencion’s spring campaign could mirror that of Pins, who made his debut in 1999 as a July 2YO, runner second at his first start on a heavy track at Canterbury, before winning on that track next time out in August.

The following month Pins won the Group 2 Stan Fox Stakes (1400m, Randwick) and two weeks later finished his campaign with a creditable fifth behind Redoute’s Choice (Testa Rossa was second, Commands third) in one of the highest-rated Group 1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m, Caulfield) in history.

Pins returned to Melbourne in the autumn to win the Triple Crown bonus, taking out the Group 2 Alister Clark Stakes (1600m, Moonee Valley), Group 2 Autumn Classic (1800m, Caulfield) and Group 1 Australian Guineas (then 2000m, Flemington).

Intencion cost his owner, Masatsugu Otani, a Japanese based in Singapore, $200,000 at the 2009 Magic Millions Gold Coast Premier Yearling Sale. The colt was offered by Willow Park Stud, near Scone.

Acupuncture is an unraced mare from the speedy Quack, by Magic Ring (USA) from the former brilliant mare and good broodmare Mother Duck (by Luskin Star from Mission, by Vain).

Mother Duck won four times at Stakes level, including the 1986 Group 3 Gimcrack Stakes (1000m, Randwick) and the 1987 Listed The Shorts (1100m, Randwick).

She hasn’t produced a Stakes winner at stud, but Quack is the dam of the well-named 2009 Nitschke Stakes winner Pricked (by Thorn Park).

A study of Intencion, pictured as a yearling, shows he is very much in the Pins/Snippets mould – a bay with powerful quarters, strong forearm and gaskins, and short cannons. He also has Pins’ white snip on his nose.

Lexdane broke through for his first win at his fifth start today at Belmont (WA), but it’s his pedigree that attracts the most interest.

Lexdane is a bay colt by Danewin from the Sackford mare Sister Klaire. He is in-bred to equine royalty; the family founded by Cambridge Stud’s wonder mare Eight Carat (GB), who is Danewin’s granddam.

Eight Carat (pictured) also is the dam of champion colts Octogonal, Mouawad, Kaapstad (14 Group 1 wins between them) and the star Group 1-winning fillies Diamond Lover and Marquise. The great mare also is the granddam of Commands (Danewin’s brother) and Diamond Lover’s three Group 1 winners Don Eduardo, Peruzzi and Tristalove (the dam of the Group 1 winner Viking Ruler).

Lexdane’s dam Sister Klaire is from the imported mare Great-Grandaughter (GB), a daughter of Great Nephew (GB) and Klairessa (GB), the dam of Eight Carat.

Lexdane was sold, from the Emirates Park draft, for $50,000 to WA trainer Kylie Dowling at the 2009 Magic Millions Gold Coast Premier Yearling Sale.

Australian racing lost one of its enduring champions when Zeditave died, just short of his 25^th birthday, late last week.

Zeditave (ch h 1985, The Judge-Summoned, by Crowned Prince (USA)) was euthanased after suffering a serious colic attack at Newhaven Park Stud, Boorowa, near Yass in south-west NSW – his home of 21 years.

Zeditave’s passing also ends a long and successful association between Newhaven Park and champion stallions. Newhaven’s Richard Kelly said Zeditave is the last stallion to stand at the famous farm, which will now concentrate on its future as a private broodmare farm.

Newhaven Park has been associated with champion stallions Wilkes (FR), imported in 1954, and more recently the Golden Slipper winners Luskin Star and Marauding (NZ).

“I think it’s fair to say Zeditave’s death is the end of an era for us,” Richard Kelly told AAP.”We decided some time ago not to stand stallions anymore because it has become quite expensive. It costs 10 to 20 million dollars now to secure a top stallion.”

Last season, Zeditave covered 25 mares at Newhaven, but Kelly reports that the horse has “probably his best crop of foals” rising two after the stud used him on all its quality mares – 43 in total – during the equine influenza lock down in 2007.

Zeditave’s stud record is as imposing as his race performance – he won 15 of his 17 starts, including five Group 1 races. At stud, he has sired 35 Stakes winners, which is an outstanding result for a horse that stood away from the major breeding region of the Hunter Valley, and also considering not once in 21 seasons did he cover more than 91 mares – in fact, he averaged only 62 mares a season in his stud career.

Zeditave’s Group 1 winners are Assertive Lad (Doncaster Handicap) and his sister Assertive Lass (Flight Stakes and Coolmore Classic), Strategic (Australia Stakes), Typhoon Zed (The Galaxy and Manikato Stakes), Sports (Oakleigh Plate and Lightning Stakes), Chlorophyll (Coolmore Classic) and Ruffles (Newmarket Handicap).

His sons at stud – Strategic, Magic Albert and Zedrich – are continuing the legacy of the sire line, while he is the sire of the dams of champion gallopers Reset (Zabeel-Assertive Lass) and Sacred Kingdom (Encosta De Lago-Courtroom Sweetie).

Zeditave was the last great horse trained by the legendary Melbourne horseman Angus Armanasco, who also fostered the racing careers of champion stallions Biscay (by Star Kingdom (IRE)), Bletchingly (Biscay) and Zeditave’s underrated sire The Judge, a son of Showdown (GB).

Newhaven Park was founded in the 1940s by the Kelly family and in 1986 listed on the Australian Stock Exchange under the ownership of the Kellys and the Ingham brothers, Jack and Bob.

In 2003, the Newhaven partnership sold its stud and bloodstock interests to concentrate on his hotel and leisure businesses. Fred Kelly and his family took a majority of the hotel side of the enterprise, while Richard Kelly and his son John acquired Newhaven as a family-run thoroughbred and livestock entity.

The Kellys now have around 50 mares on the property, which will continue to be bred to the best stallions in the country.