Are the stars aligning for 2015 Melbourne Cup-bound Preferment?

Sporting News Logo

A staggering 53 Group I wins since 2008 and yet the three spring majors - the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate, and Melbourne Cup have eluded champion trainer Chris Waller.

Waller has had 11 Caulfield Cup runners for no placings, five Cox Plate runners for no placings and nine Melbourne Cup runners for a lone third placegetter in 2014 with Who Shot Thebarman.

This year however, Waller has arguably his best contingent of horses in Melbourne. And there is a sense of timing about Preferment among others in the all-conquering stable.

Preferment's win in last Sunday's Group I Turnbull Stakes (2000m) at Flemington saw his Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup quotes slashed. The four-year-old entire's an $11 chance to win the Cox Plate and $9 for the Melbourne Cup.

The performance sent an ominous warning to other potential Melbourne Cup contenders and if the son of Zabeel is successful on the first Tuesday of next month it will be a landmark achievement for not only Waller but for Australian and New Zealand racing.

The recently deceased Zabeel has been a breed-shaper of the modern era and a win to Preferment in this year's Melbourne Cup, would mark an amazing fourth success in the race for the champion sire.

Zabeel produced his first Melbourne Cup winner in 1997 with Might And Power before Jezabeel won the following year and Efficient another nine years later.

Only one other sire in Melbourne Cup history has sired four winners. Positano sired a quartet between 1903 and 1912. If Preferment succeeds in 2015, it will be an astonishing 19 years since Might And Power's win, which is longer than the lifetime of some thoroughbreds.

Preferment will also be aiming to capture a rare double in winning the Victoria Derby and Melbourne Cup in the following season, a milestone achieved by just two horses in the last century - Zabeel's Efficient and Australasia's most famous racehorse Phar Lap.

Though a New Zealand-bred, Preferment will be treated as part of the local defence, as Waller and co attempt to arrest the dominance of northern hemisphere raiders which traces back to 2009.

In the meantime, Preferment must pass his Cox Plate test, a race sure to provide an indication of his Melbourne Cup credentials.

Author(s)