‘Winx of the Cup’: Star horse you can’t ignore

Champion jockey James McDonald says don’t underestimate Verry Elleegant in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup.

Trainer Chris Waller announced on Saturday that the mare would be one of the 24 runners that will face the starter at Flemington on Tuesday.He also confirmed that McDonald will be reunited with the mare that he’s won seven Group 1 races aboard.“It will be an absolute honour to ride her in a Melbourne Cup,” McDonald said.“It’s an awesome opportunity and it would be the icing on the cake in what’s been an amazing career.“She’s been such a special horse to me over such a long time.“I’ve been very lucky during my career to ride some amazing horses and she’s up in the top echelon.“Horses like Dundeel, Nature Strip and even Winx.“She’s been an absolute star.”Verry Elleegant goes into this year’s Melbourne Cup off a third placing in the Cox Plate.The seven-year-old mare has been asked to carry 57kg next Tuesday, 1kg less than Makybe Diva lumped to victory in her third Melbourne Cup win in 2005 and 1.5kg more than Verry Elleegant carried in last year’s Melbourne Cup when she finished seventh behind Twilight Payment.“People will say it’s such a big ask for her with the big weight but you never underestimate champions,” McDonald said.“Chris wouldn’t be running her if he thought she wasn’t up to the task.“He knows her better than anyone and she’s all heart so don’t rule her out.”Verry Elleegant sits on the third line of Melbourne Cup betting with TAB Fixed Odds at $13. The $2.30 favourite is Incentivise.VETS CLEAR RAIDER, GREAT HOUSE POWERS INTO FIELDSpanish Mission has been passed fit to contest the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.It caps a whirlwind 48 hours for the Andrew Balding-trained international stayer who came down with a skin irritation on the right lower leg.Caretaker trainer Tony Noonan and son Tom, family friends of the Baldings, managed to clear the irritation with a course of approved antibiotics.All scans and veterinary checks on the Cup second favourite cleared the stayer of any structural or muscular damage.A knock to the lower leg triggered the mild case of cellulitis.The positive news came after Noonan said yesterday he was confident Spanish Mission will be cleared by Racing Victoria on Saturday to take his place in Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup as the $9 second favourite rides out a minor skin infection of sorts.The news came just before Great House booked his Cup berth with victory in the Hotham Handicap. The Chris Waller trained gelding powered home to claim victory over Mankayan and punters responded quickly with his Cup quote halving to $26 as soon as the result was confirmed.MISSION READY TO RUN A MARATHONNoonan trotted up Spanish Mission again himself in the late afternoon and the Andrew Balding-trained Cup star looked like “he could run a marathon”.Multiple inspections – stable and RV veterinarians – have cleared Spanish Mission of any structural or soft-tissue damage.“It’s been a mixed day … I did feel a lot happier at the end of it,” Noonan said.“The horse has had a knock yesterday (Thursday), he worked soundly this morning, trotted up soundly for me.“When RV came to inspect him they put this sensor around his pastern, this is where the horse had a knock, and with the pressure of the sensor because the skin is irritated from the knock (he felt it).“He might have a mild infection in it, the wrap around it forced him to be uncomfortable.”“We’re pretty confident the issue with him is minor,” Noonan said.“I would think they‘ll be happy when they inspect him tomorrow.”Spanish Mission has eased a point with TAB from $6 to $7 following the veterinary inspections.Noonan has seen similar issues in the past, which gives the 30+ year horseman, and family friend of the Balding’s confidence Spanish Mission will recover fully.“It was near impossible to pinpoint the issue outside he had a knock to the leg,” Noonan said.“It’s like having a slight infection, there’s no cut or wound on the leg, but if you touch it, it’s sensitive.“We’re confident with just some treatment tonight which he’s able to have he should be fine tomorrow.”RV veterinarians on Friday likened the issue to a mild case of cellulitis.Spanish Mission was sent to U-Vet Equine Centre, Werribee on Friday for further examination but returned to his nearby quarantine facility a short time later.WHO TO BACK IN THE CUPGilbert Gardiner1 Spanish Mission2 Grand Promenade3 Pondus4 IncentiviseBrad Waters1 Incentivise2 Tralee Rose3 Grand Promenade4 Twilight PaymentGlenn McFarlane1 Incentivise 2 Spanish Mission3 Verry Elleegant 4 Tralee RoseAndrew Rule1 Incentivise2 Verry Elleegant3 Spanish Mission4 Sir LucanPatrick Carlyon1 Spanish Mission2 Incentivise 3 Grand Promenade 4 Twilight PaymentBen Dorries1 Incentivise 2 Verry Elleegant3 Tralee Rose 4 SelinoRay Thomas1 Incentivise2 Verry Elleegant3 Grand Promenade4 The Chosen OneStephen Brassel1 Incentivise2 Spanish Mission3 Grand Promenade4 Floating ArtistNick Quinn1 Incentivise 2 Spanish Mission3 Tralee Rose 4 Explosive JackChris Vernuccio1 Incentivise2 Spanish Mission3 Grand Promenade4 Verry ElleegantSimon Moy1 Verry Elleegant2 Incentivise3 Grand Promenade4 Tralee Rose