Mr Medici comes with wet sail

Melbourne’s wet Caulfield Cup forecast looks to be good news for Hong Kong visitor Mr Medici, who has settled in well at the Werribee quarantine facility.

Overlooked by many as a chance in the 2400-metre cup on Saturday – and in the Melbourne Cup (3200m) on November 2 – Mr Medici’s stocks rose with the G1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) fourth placing last weekend by Macau visitor Luen Yat Forever, regarded even more lightly than HK’s MM.

Now that racegoers have seen that the Asian horses stack up, they should also look at Mr Medici’s wet-track record. Among his Hong Kong wins was the G1 Champions and Chater Cup (wfa, 2400m) at Sha Tin on May 30, his most recent start – it was in pouring rain on a slow track; and as a three-year-old, before he was bought from Ireland, he won over 1400m on a bog track at Limerick.

No wonder the Peter Ho-trained Mr Medici is being kept safe around the $18 mark. Frenchman Gerald Mosse, who had the Champions and Chater mount, will ride, and will be responsible for overcoming barrier 16 (12 if all four emergencies come out).

The South China Morning Post pointed out earlier this week that the Australian media had overlooked Mr Medici (b h 6, Medicean (GB)-Way For Life (GER), by Platini (GER)), but he – and the weather – are now on their radar.

Mr Medici has had 33 starts for five wins and 19 placings, and has earned almost $2.5 million.

Mosse, who has Geelong and Melbourne Cup bookings for Americain, the French stayer bought by Victorians Gerry Ryan and Kevin and Colleen Bamford, had a winner at Happy Valley in Hong Kong last night, but star of the meeting was Australian jockey Brett Prebble, whose treble took him to 13 wins for the season, only won behind Douglas Whyte, who was winless last night. (He had three seconds.)

Prebble, by the way, has been offered Geelong and Melbourne Cup rides on the Luca Cumani-trained Drunken Sailor.

Another Australian, Zac Purton had one win at Happy Valley. He is third on the premiership ladder with nine wins.

Hong Kong is topping up its depleted riding ranks – Tye Angland (NSW), who has a four-month contract, had a winner at his first meeting last Sunday; William Pike (WA) has a one-off booking for this Sunday; Mosse has returned from France; and Neil Callan, who has had 100 winners for each of the past six English seasons, will take up a four-month contract late in November.

Photo: Mr Medici in quarantine in Melbourne.