Racing
Scandinavia enhances Cup prospects
Champion Irish trainer not ruling trip to Melbourne with St Leger winner
Aidan O'Brien remains open to the prospect of a return trip to Melbourne this spring, with Scandinavia keeping his hopes of a trip south alive with St Leger success at Doncaster.
The three-year-old son of Justify proved too tough for his rivals in the 2921-metre Group 1, run in the early hours of Sunday, Australian time, and is now as short as $11 for the Melbourne Cup.
Scandinavia was one of three horses O'Brien entered for the $10 million event at Flemington on November 4, alongside Mount Kilimanjaro and Aftermath, and he said he was a 'very good chance' of heading to Melbourne if he passes Racing Victoria's stringent scanning process.
"It's a possibility. He'll have to go and get scanned and see whether he is eligible to go or not, but there's a very good chance the lads might want to go down there with him," O'Brien said.
The O'Brien-trained Jan Brueghel was infamously denied the opportunity to contest last year's Melbourne Cup after failing his final scan after arriving in Victoria.
Jan Brueghel was taken to Melbourne after winning the St Leger.
Scandinavia was ridden to St Leger victory by Tom Marquand and made it back-to-back Group 1 wins, having won the Goodwood Cup over 3218m on July 29.
The St Leger was one of two European features this weekend expected to shape the Melbourne Cup with the Group 1 Irish St Leger (2816m) to be run at the Curragh on Sunday night.
Favourite for that event is recent Australian Bloodstock purchase Al Riffa, who also heads betting on the Melbourne Cup.
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