October 28 - The Melbourne Cup 2008 is expected to give Aussie horseracing fans the opportunity to watch some of Europe's best runners battle it out for the country's top horse racing honors as a large number of the anticipated 24-horse-field hail from distant European shores.

According to recent reports, at least eight European thoroughbreds will start in the auspicious race next Tuesday (November 4th), six of which are already being heavily touted with a shot at winning the lengthy 3200m race over turf at Melbourne's historical Flemington Racecourse.

These are expected to include Mad Rush from England ($6.50), Septimus from Ireland ($4.50) and many more that will give the Australian contingent a hard run for their money. While not from Europe, another threat certainly not to be discounted is last year's Melbourne Cup winner, Efficient, a New Zealand gelding.

But back to the European threat, many punters will certainly be keeping an eye on Mad Rush who is trained by the highly respected England-based trainer, Luca Cumani, who has high hopes for the thoroughbred. In last year's Melbourne Cup Cumani was the trainer of second place finisher, Purple Moon.

Cumani is the first to admit that he has the Melbourne Cup in his blood and will keep coming back to Oz until he proves victorious in what is considered by many to be the greatest horse race in the southern hemisphere. 'As long as we have horses good enough to compete we will keep coming back here,' he said.

While the Italian-born trainer missed out on Mad Rush's fourth place finish in the recent Caulfield Cup, he was reportedly pleased with the four-year-old bay colt who was overseen during the race by the trainer's daughter, Francesca, who seems to have inherited her father's passion for the sport of horseracing.

'While I wasn't here to see Mad Rush compete in the Caulfield Cup, by all accounts he ran very well. I am very confident that he'll be raring to go come November 4th as everything is in perfect order. However, there are plenty of dangers such as Septimus who is currently the best horse in Europe,' he said.

While Mad Rush was expected to get his first feel of Flemington Racecourse yesterday morning, Cumani decided not to subject the colt to the journey or the traffic on the way to the racecourse. He will also be looking to showcase another of his runners in the Melbourne Cup, the talented Bauer who could also impress.

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2012/04/02 09:27:50 PM