Lloyd Williams’ quest to win an eighth Melbourne Cup will come down to a two-pronged attack with Serpentine to join Point Nepean in Tuesday’s $8m race after running a strong second to Surefire in the Lexus Archer Stakes (2500m) on Saturday.
While Chris Waller decided some time ago to bypass the Cup with Surefire, Nick Williams was quick to confirm Serpentine will take his place in the race, believing the rise in distance to 3200m will suit the six-year-old son of Galileo.
The performance on Saturday elevated Serpentine into the Cup field.
“He will run, why not? He was good and it looks the further he goes, the better he will be,” Nick Williams said.
In what has been a spring of attrition for the Williams camp with a number of their key contenders ruled out, Serpentine was given the green light after an inspection from Racing Victoria vets shortly after the race and will take his place on Tuesday.
John Allen will ride Serpentine after James Cummings opted not to run Alegron after he finished second last in the Archer Stakes.
Waller’s assistant trainer Charlie Duckworth said the decision to not keep Surefire in the Cup nominations came down to a belief he was a distance query with the blinkers on.
“He needs the blinkers to race well and it is not much chop if you are overracing,” Duckworth said.
“The Cup has weakened out a little bit in the last few weeks, but acceptances were a bit earlier. Those are the decisions you have to make and sometimes you are right and sometimes you are wrong. But we were more than happy with today.”
Surefire’s Archer success made up for a luckless second in the Geelong Cup, with the four-year-old Fastnet Rock gelding fully deserving of the sixth win of his career to date.
James McDonald got his Flemington carnival off to a great start in the second race, scoring on Surefire ($1.90 favourite) by a length from Serpentine ($10), with Waller’s Crystal Pegasus ($16) third.
McDonald said of Surefire: “He travelled into it a little bit better and I thought he’d win it better than he did but he got to the front and I just felt him back off and wait for the other horses.
“Maybe a set of visors just to help him concentrate but other than that, good job, lovely track out there and it’ll suit everything.”
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