Willie Mullins backs Wicklow Brave for Melbourne Cup pace

Willie Mullins

keeps inching closer to winning the

Melbourne Cup

and he hopes

Wicklow Brave

can become a Flemington hero in the “Race that stops a Nation” next Tuesday.

Ireland's champion National Hunt trainer first tried to land the world's richest handicap in 2003 when Holy Orders attracted unwanted celebrity by refusing to gallop in his workouts and ultimately finished out of the money in the race itself.

A decade later however, Simenon proved to be a much more potent force when finishing fourth while last year Max Dynamite appeared an unlucky loser when finishing runner-up to the 100-1 outsider Prince Of Penzance.

Frankie Dettori was heavily criticised for his ride on Max Dynamite and picked up a one-month ban, plus a $20,000 fine for his efforts.

However the Italian superstar redeemed himself with a spectacular front-running ride on Wicklow Brave to upset the 1-7 favourite Order Of St George in last month's Irish St Leger and the Mullins-Dettori alliance is set to take aim at the Cup once again.

“Frankie will ride and hopefully we’ll have better luck now,” Mullins said.

“Maybe we won a lucky Leger and maybe we need to find more improvement in Melbourne, I don’t know. But we know he stays so the pace of the race shouldn’t be a worry.”

Preparation

As part of his preparation Wicklow Brave is getting plenty of practice coming out of the stalls at the Werribee training centre by Mullins’s representative, the former leading jumps jockey,

David Casey

, and one local at least is expecting a big run from the Irish hope.

"There is no doubt Willie Mullins has got it in his head he will win this race. I think he knows what it takes to win the Cup," the Racing Victoria spokesman, Leigh Jordan, told local media as the build-up to Australia's most famous race continues.

Casey too is reporting smooth progress towards next week’s highlight and said: “Wicklow Brave is probably a sharper type of horse to Max Dynamite. I don’t know if it’s confidence but we do have an expectation he will run a good race as his form is standing up.

"He was just behind Big Orange in the Goodwood Cup and we think he is better than he was that that day. He showed that in the Leger."

Wicklow Brave is ranked eighth among the 32 entries still left in the Cup which will have a maximum field of 24. The two other Irish hopes, Bondi Beach (9) and Heartbreak City (18) are also guaranteed places in the race which has Michael Bell’s Big Orange as topweight.

Hong Kong's champion jockey Joao Moreira is due to fly to Australia later in the week to ride Tony Martin's Heartbreak City in a workout but no rider will be more anxious to win than Dettori.

Wicklow Brave will be Dettori’s 15th attempt to win the Melbourne Cup. Dettori was a first-hand witness to Vintage Crop’s historic 1993 success at Flemington when he finished ninth on the English hope, Drum Taps.

Runner-up

He also finished runner-up in 1999 on Central Park but only two riders have ever endured a longer losing streak in the race.

Bondi Beach finished out of the frame in last year’s race but remains the shortest-priced of the large international contingent with Aidan O’Brien’s runner rated a general 10-1 shot behind Godolphin’s Hartnell and the Caulfield Cup winner, Jameka.

Steady support

Heartbreak City has attracted steady support to 12-1 while Wicklow Brave is a general 16-1 shot.

The make-up of the final field will be known after the traditional Saturday action at Flemington with the Lexus Stakes winner guaranteed a place in the Cup.